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A steam pipe broke under a street in Manhattan's Flatiron neighborhood on Thursday morning, producing a thick geyser of white smoke and debris containing asbestos, according to authorities.
The results show that there was asbestos in the steam Mayor Bill de Blasio said at an afternoon press conference
that 49 buildings were evacuated and that Fifth Avenue between 19th and 22nd Street remained closed. Residents of the area could be displaced for a few days, although he said that buildings farthest from the blast could be cleared as early as Thursday night.
Eric F. Phillips, the mayor's press secretary, said that Con Edison would pay for hotel accommodation through his claims process. Although five people received "minor injuries" when the 20-inch pipe exploded around 6:40 am, no one was seriously injured, according to the New York Fire Department, which First evacuated people from 28 buildings near the break on 21st Street and Fifth Avenue.
Officials are still investigating the cause of the explosion, said de Blasio. Mr. de Blasio urged people whose clothes were contaminated with debris from the explosion to remove them, put them in a bag and take a shower. The clothing can be donated to a site set up by Con Edison at 22nd Street and Broadway.
There is concern about whether asbestos enters the neighboring buildings with air-conditioning systems, and officials will work to determine when they will be able to enter, "said the Mayor.
"We will work with great caution," said de Blasio. "Now that we know that there is asbestos present, we will not cut the corners.We'll be very thorough."
In a tweet Mr. Phillips said the cleaning would start with buildings farther away from the explosion "to release the buildings as fast as it is sure to do"
"I knew it was either a World Trade Center stuff or a plane crash, "said Doreen Black, who was in bed in her apartment at 22nd Street and Broadway when the explosion occurred. "It was my fear."
Black, who lives there since 1991, said she was expecting to be evacuated, so she started packing a suitcase. "I took my little wheelie out of the closet and started packing my bags," Black said. "My husband thought I was crazy, he went back to sleep."
City officials said the hole in the street caused by the breakage was about a one-and-one-half car and a half, and that it was a length of a car
.The two decontamination centers for the general public were set up in the area, said Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro
Con Edison, who operates the steam piping system, said that the explosion also disrupted some underground lines of electricity and gas, but did not cause any problems.
"It will take some time to repair them," said Mr. Nigro
James Vreeland, 49. The old engineer was walking on 22nd Street on Thursday afternoon, carrying a large bag white trash full of clothes and a backpack that he had worn in the morning, looking for a position o Someone might tell him if his belongings were contaminated.
Vreeland was on his way to his office around 7:30 am when he saw the giant smoke plume. He said that he was getting closer to see what was happening when he started to feel white flakes falling on him.
"It was stupid," Mr. Vreeland said. "But it's human nature to be curious."
The police had closed several intersections, closing traffic on major thoroughfares, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the subway trains were being re-routed and bypbading the stations. Regional offices also advised employees to use other routes to get to work.
Corey Johnson, a speaker from the New York City Council, tweeted a video of the blast and stated that it was "a miracle that no one was hurt"
L & # 39, location on Fifth Avenue is about two blocks from the break of a main pipe in 1945, which caused the explosion of a mbadive chasm and then the explosion of A gas line that propelled the fire into the air.
In nearby Gramercy Park, a steam pipe that exploded on 20th Street and Third Avenue in August 1989 spewed a pillar of steam and debris. Three people, including two workers from Con Edison, were killed.
More than 100 miles of steam under New York City, one of the largest steam systems in the world, provide heating and cooling to nearly 2,000 buildings. In the city, steam is also used in hospitals to sterilize equipment and in dry cleaners to squeeze clothes.
Julia Jacobs and David Goodman contributed to the report.
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