Steam Explosion Shakes up NYC

In Southern California we heat our homes and apartments with either natural gas or electric heating. In New York City, much of the town is heated by steam generated by city owned steam plants and piped underground throughout the city. Today, one of those steam pipes exploded:

One man is dead and several more people have been badly hurt after a large steam explosion struck Midtown Manhattan on the east side Wednesday evening.

It happened just before 6:00 p.m. near 41st Street between 3rd Avenue and Lexington Avenue, and in the first moments after it hit there was chaos.

Eyewitness Carol Bergendale described the scene on Eyewitness News. She said that there was a roar that lasted for over 10 minutes. When it hit, she says she started seeing cars driving the wrong way down Third Avenue trying to get away from whatever was happening. She says she saw cars hitting buses, and people running everywhere. She says in those first moments, everyone feared a terror attack.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said it was not terrorism related.

Eyewitness News is told that one person died, apparently of cardiac arrest, after the blast. At least 20 people were hurt. Two people who were seriously injured were being treated at New York Weill-Cornell Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman says they were in critical condition and a third patient with lesser injuries was also being evaluated.

There is a frozen zone no one can enter near the scene of the blast. As of Wednesday evening, it included the area from 40th Street to 43rd Street From Third Avenue to Vanderbilt.

The pictures from the scene look like something out of a Hollywood volcano disaster movie, with steam shooting from a big hole in the ground. This happened not too far from where I was recently staying. Our hotel was located at 52nd St. and 7th Ave, so this explosion was about 11 short blocks south and 4 big blocks west. We walked as far south as 42nd street, and made it as far west as 5th, but didn't quite make it to Grand Central Station, near the scene of the explosion. Aging underground facilities are a risk in every big city, but when they carry live steam, the potential for destruction is that much greater.

Fortunately, terrorism wasn't involved, but that will be little consolation to the injured and those displaced.