An electrical issue, not a gas leak, sparked a manhole explosion that blew open a section of Poughkeepsie sidewalk seconds after a woman walked over it with two children, power company officials said Tuesday.
Dramatic video caught the harrowing near-miss as the woman wheeled a stroller holding one child, while another walked beside her. The trio were mere inches past the manhole when the explosion sent chunks of concrete and debris flying in all directions, and the three pedestrians bolting.The woman, whom WPVI-TV identified as Lisa Davis, said she and her grandchildren were walking home from an Easter egg hunt at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday when she found herself surrounded by not one, but three exploding manholes.
“I didn’t know what to do except grab my grandson and run,” she said. “I couldn’t really run straight ahead of me to the corner because the manhole at the next corner blew up, too.”
First responders arrived within three minutes after being alerted to a “manhole explosion, and possibly people injured,” the Poughkeepsie Fire Department said in a statement. “A manhole halfway down the block as well as another on the corner of Academy and Church Streets had also exploded, very narrowly missing three pedestrians. Thankfully no injuries were reported.”
Officials at first suspected a gas leak of some kind because the crater contained high levels of explosive gas, Mid Hudson News reported.
In addition, investigators “found high levels of carbon monoxide in multiple buildings, and the occupants of all the buildings on that block were evacuated until the gas levels could be mitigated,” the fire department said.
The street was closed for several hours, and the matter was eventually turned over to Central Hudson, the utility company. Further investigation revealed an electrical problem, Central Hudson told the Daily News on Tuesday.
The explosion “was the result of an electrical fault on an underground cable and is not related to our natural gas distribution system,” company spokesperson Réal Hamilton-Romeo told the News in an emailed statement. “While manhole events stemming from electrical faults are not uncommon, they can still pose risks of damage or injury. Fortunately, we’ve been informed that no one was hurt in this instance. We are currently reviewing the affected cable to determine the cause of the fault and ensure the continued safety and reliability of our infrastructure.”