One person is dead and multiple others are injured after a thunderous gas explosion in Kentucky that sent flames hundreds of feet into the air and sparked an evacuation of nearby residents, according to officials.

Officials said the gas line exploded about 2 a.m. in the Moreland community near the Boyle and Lincoln County line.

Lincoln County Coroner Farris Marcum confirmed that one person was killed. The cause of death and the victim's identity were not immediately disclosed, according to our partners at LEX 18.

Officials tell our partners at LEX 18 that others were injured.

Emergency officials said the cause of the explosion is under investigation.

The intensity and scale of the fireball shocked local residents.

"Got into my truck, was going up to my girlfriend's house and seen what looked like an atomic bomb going off, basically," said Jerry Sinkhorn. "Seen a big cloud of dust go up and could hear the thrust off of it. I knew what it was. It was a gas line, 'cause I've heard when the last one wnet off up there at the gas plant."

Officials evacuated residents in a nearby mobile home park.

"It woke us up and it was just a big roar and it was fire going up into the sky as far as you could see," said Sue Routin. "Our windows were shaking really bad, and our doors and the ground, you could hear the ground just moving and tumbling and rolling. And then we got to feeling the heat from the fire, so we got in our vehicle and took off to get away from it.

"We thought, he actually thought it could've been an airplane crash, because the rolling was really loud and it was just so bright it lit up the whole, it lit up everything around us."

Lincoln County Emergency Management officials said a shelter has been opened at a nearby church for evacuated residents.

Smoke from the blaze could be seen as far as Louisville.

Officials said the gas line had been shut off.

A gas explosion rocked a Kentucky community Thursday morning, leaving one person dead and lighting at least five homes on fire, according to local authorities.

Residents in Moreland were evacuated after the explosion, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said. The number of people evacuated was not immediately available. A shelter has been set up at a local church.

Dan Gilliam, the director of Lincoln County Emergency Management, said authorities believe the explosion was the result of a rupture of a 30-inch gas transmission pipeline, but it will take time to definitively determine the cause.

"The part of the area that has been compromised -- there's just nothing left," he told reporters, adding some residents may be able to return to their homes by Thursday afternoon.

"There doesn't really look like there's any in-between back there," Gilliam added. "They're either destroyed, or they're still standing."

Sofia Nunez was at home in Moreland when the explosion happened.

"There was a loud noise and it sounded like a tornado was outside our house. When you stepped outside you could hear the flames and feel the heat. It shook the house for nearly 30 minutes after the flames appeared and neighbors' windows were shattered," Nunez told CNN.

A spokesman for Enbridge Gas, which owns the Texas Eastern Pipeline, said the company was working with first responders to secure the scene.

"Our teams are coordinating with first responders to secure the site. We have isolated the affected line and are working closely with emergency responders to manage the situation," the spokesman said in a statement.

Charlie Lynch woke up in nearby Danville to the whole sky lit up from the explosion. He said he drove 10 to 15 minutes before taking video, with flames and smoke visible the whole way.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office told CNN at least five homes and a garage were on fire after the explosion, but that the gas line fire has been extinguished.

Some residents have gone to area hospitals, the sheriff's office said, but gave no details.

Edgar Sarceno, 18, has spent the summer helping kids at a nonprofit called Reading Quest.

"I always wanted to be the person I needed when I was their age," Sarceno said.

When Sarceno was their age, he felt alone with no family support. By his junior year of high school, he was homeless and living in his car.

"My whole life was in my trunk, basically," Sarceno said.

Those who knew Sarceno had no idea what he was going through. He got good grades, worked multiple jobs and volunteered to help kids learn to read.

It wasn't until he asked his English teacher to edit his college essay that his story began to surface.

"That was my own way of telling them I need help," Sarceno said.

The help he asked for, along with his determination, earned him a full scholarship to Bates College in Maine. His community also pitched in to get him a new phone and a new car.

He's now looking forward to driving across the country to start his new life.

"I kind of realized that that human connection is what really could save me," Sarceno said.