Manhole Covers Explode into the Air on UWS
by Avi - March 13, 2010 at 9:18 am -
Two Manhole covers exploded and fire shot into the air into the air today around 4 a.m., after an underground transformer blew, ABC News is reporting. No one was injured but multiple cars got hit by the manholes, ABC reported. It sounds like at least one of the manholes were around 94th Street and Columbus Avenue. Con Ed is on the scene.
The snow and salt from the past few weeks likely corroded underground wires, causing the explosion. (We heard about something similar happening last week on 72nd Street and Columbus.) ABC News has video of the manhole fire below. Let us know if you live nearby and have seen or heard anything.
I live in a building right next to the exploding manholes. One was on the corner of 94th and Columbus and the other was on 94th between Columbus and CPW. I was awakened by explosions around 4 am. It sounded like bombs were going off. I turned on the light and it was flickering. I watched from the window for a while and saw other people doing the same. The manhole on Columbus Ave was shooting fire about 5 feet in the air for about an hour. Around the time I was losing interest, there was another loud explosion, and a minivan on 94th st was on fire. People from the other buildings were shouting to the firefighters to alert them of the new fire. They put out that fire and monitored until ConEd showed up. Now ConEd is busy working on both.