Underground Blast In New York (Video)
A BOMB in New York? Anxiety and panic:
(CBS) NEW YORK What once was the scene of New York City’s hustle and bustle during Wednesday’s rush hour in the Midtown East section of Manhattan has turned into a ghost town after a steam pipe exploded on 41st Street and Lexington Avenue, leaving a giant crater in the middle of the intersection, and surrounding buildings covered in soot, their windows blown out from the impact.
Officials are warning residents to avoid the scene and treat the area as if “there was asbestos in the air.”
Chunks of road, mud, and debris surround a red tow truck that sits all but destroyed in the middle of the crater, said to be anywhere from 50 to 100 feet in diametere, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg says a 24 inch steam pipe built in 1924 burst, perhaps due to cold water from the rain or an unknown water main break.
Nicole Frielich was on the 15th floor of the building where she works at 370 Lexington Avenue, located on the corner of 41st Street, when the explosion occurred. She says employees in her office became alarmed after there was a thunderous clap and the building began shaking as if there was an earthquake.
“All you could see out the window was a muddy, brownish-gray, debris hitting the window. It was very powerful. After the initial explosion you could still feel the building was continually just shaking,” she told CBS 2 HD.
“We immediately ran into the hallway and everybody evacuated into the stairwell. … It was just mayhem, there was no direction, no one knew what to do. When got down to the main floor there were two people off the street, it was completely eerie like out of a photo of 9/11, they were just covered from head to toe in mud, black and brownish gray, bleeding. Everyone was hysterical, everyone was just yelling,” Frielich added.
The mass hysteria stretched outside for blocks, where residents and employees ran in fear, unsure as to whether the city had been under attack. Sirens blared northbound along 3rd Avenue for hours as emergency vehicles pushed through the gridlock that tied up nearly every lane during the busy 6 o’clock hour.
Posted: 19th, July 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
