PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) – A plane crashed into a home in Oregon, killing three people and leaving thousands of people without power in the area.

According to investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Cessna 421C took off at 10:25 a.m. Saturday from Troutdale Airport for a test flight.

Shortly thereafter, the pilot reported “control difficulties.”

A few seconds later, the pilot of a helicopter flying nearby reported that the plane had crashed.

The plane struck power lines on the way to the crash site, leaving about 22,000 PGE customers without power for several hours on Saturday.

The plane also crashed into several houses.

At a news conference Tuesday morning, Air Safety Inspector Michael Hicks and local authorities provided an update on Saturday’s plane crash.

Hicks said it could take up to 18 months to determine what the problems are.

Officials also confirmed that the pilot, a passenger on the plane and a woman from the terraced house that was hit died in the crash. Their names have not yet been released.

Hicks said the medical examiner’s office is still working to officially confirm the victims’ identities.

“It was a disaster. That’s the only word I can use,” said Tom Keegan, who was at home Saturday morning. He said it was a beautiful day until the unthinkable happened.

“There was just this horrible, horrible sound, I can’t even describe it,” Keegan recalled. “I saw a mass of insulation and smoke, and I got up to see what it was, and then there was an explosion. It threw me against the wall and into the bathtub. I turned around and the whole room was filled with smoke and insulation, it was like a snowstorm.”

All Keegan knew was to escape the flames. He walked barefoot into the street and met up with his wife Judy, who was getting ready at a neighborhood pool when she saw the plane go down. He was soon taken to the hospital for observation.

Meanwhile, a few houses away, Kim Williams and her 7-year-old daughter were driving home from the coast when they got a call that their townhouse was on fire. Kim’s sister was trying to get into the house to save her three cats.

“I just froze and tried to remember a code I rarely use,” Kim said.

She reached the terraced houses several hours after the fire broke out.

“I just fainted,” she said, emotional. “I got to the grass across the street from my house and just fell to the ground, sobbing… You never, ever think this could happen to you. Later that day, I got a ‘start-your-life-over’ garbage bag from the Red Cross.”

Kim said it was a miracle her cats survived. One of them was thrown from the explosion. The other two cats were found the next day, hidden in the remains of the house.

“The theory is that he flew out of a third-story window and landed on the grass across the street,” she said. “His whiskers got a little singed… it’s crazy.”

Now these families must rebuild their wounds, heal their wounds, and grieve at the same time.

Both the Keegan family and the Williams family have set up GoFundMe pages to aid in their recovery.

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