ROCKVILLE, Md. — A house in a Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital was leveled early Friday by a thunderous explosion heard for miles around, a blast so powerful it shattered windows and caused other damage to several neighboring homes, authorities said.

The explosion rocked the sleepy Washington, D.C., bedroom community of Rockville at around 1 a.m. and scattered debris widely, a fire official said, adding the cause wasn’t immediately known.

Authorities said they had no reports of any injuries but neighbors said a man lived in the home and investigators didn’t know his immediate status or if the house was occupied at the time. Investigators and search and rescue dogs were on the scene at daybreak.

“It’s just a pile of debris; it’s just a pile of bricks. There’s not anything left of the house,” said Pete Piringer, chief spokesman for Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. “I’ve heard there were calls from miles away, people calling.”

The powerful jolt shook neighbors from their sleep, including Luzia Ricci.

“I could feel it underground,” she said of the explosion in the neighborhood of modest, mostly one-story single family homes. “I was wondering, ‘Are we having an earthquake?’ But it was so short.”