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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. About 500 people have been displaced and nearly 250 residential units have been affected, the press office said.
While five people were "very slightly injured" when the 20-inch pipe exploded around 6:40 am, no one was seriously injured. the New York Fire Department, which initially evacuated people from 28 buildings near the break on 21st Street and Fifth Avenue.
The city is still investigating the cause of the explosion, said de Blasio. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said that the Ministry of State Public Service would also investigate the explosion.
million. Blasio urged people whose clothes were contaminated with debris from the blast 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 corners.We will 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 possible to do"
The blast surprised the residents of the region, some of whom were immediately prepared for the worst.
"I knew it was a World Trade Center accident or a plane crash," said Doreen Black. 22nd Street and Broadway when the explosion occurred. "It was my fear."
Black, who lives there since 1991, said she was waiting for her to be evacuated, so she started packing a suitcase. "I took my little wheelie out of the closet and I started packing my bags," said Mrs. Black. "My husband thought I was going to Was crazy. He went back to sleep.
City officials said the hole in the street caused by the break was about a car and a half long, and that it was a length of a car [19659009]. The two public decontamination centers have been installed 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 downtime.
"It will take some time to fix them," said Mr. Nigro
James Vreeland, 49 years old. The old engineer was walking down the 22nd Street on Thursday afternoon, carrying a large white trash bag full of clothes and a backpack that he had worn in the morning, looking for a job where somebody would go to work. one could tell him if his property was 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 said it was "a miracle that no one was hurt"
A network steam pipe meanders under New York, and explosions are not uncommon. A pipe that exploded during a trip from in July 2007 sent a 40-foot-tall geyser of a burning brownish steam over a busy intersection of Midtown Manhattan. One person was killed and dozens were injured.
This rupture caused damage to multi-million dollar buildings and led to legal action. One law firm said the steam system had "a long documented history" of systemic problems.
The location on Fifth Avenue is about two blocks from a major break in January 1998 a gulf and then a line of gas burst, spitting 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 J. David Goodman contributed to the report.
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