Fredericktown residents react to the explosion of a battery plant right next to their home.

FREDERICTOWN, Mo. (KFVS) – Some residents are staying indoors tonight as the Environmental Protection Agency monitors air quality in a critical mineral mining area.

“I saw a black cloud, as if covering the sun, and instinct kicked in. I knew immediately what was going on,” Bethany Atherton said.

Bethany Atherton describes what she and her three daughters saw Wednesday afternoon when Mining plant exploded near her house.

Atherton and her husband Joseph return to their property on Thursday.

Bethany said that after this happened, she took her children and went straight to her mom’s house.

“We left the premises as quickly as possible because I was not going to take any risks. I mean, given what the smoke plume looked like on aerial photos and so on, even inside our house, if smoke was coming inside, I can’t imagine that situation,” Atherton said.

Kathy McDaniel and her husband Dave have lived next door to the plant for the past few years.

“I happened to hear a loud explosion and a guy screaming, and it scared me,” McDaniel said.

She said her home was filled with thick black smoke when it happened.

“I was out of breath, so I had to fumble my way to get dressed and get out of the house, which I did,” McDaniel said. “And then I just found out that all my neighbors had left, and I was the last one out.”

Wayne James and his wife live down the street from the battery plant. He told what his first reaction to the explosion was.

“It was the end of our house and the whole neighborhood, and hopefully no one,” James said.

He wonders what this could mean for his property now and whether he wants to sell it in the future.

“But people will be wary. You know how to organize something that would cause a huge fire, huge explosions,” James said. “And I could understand it, but no one believes it, we will stay.”

According to Al Watkins, critical mineral recovery attorneyOperations at the facility have been suspended. But he says all 75 workers at the plant will continue to receive pay.