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[UPDATE BELOW] We're getting reports that a possible gas leak and/or explosion has prompted the evacuation of buildings in Brooklyn Heights near Borough Hall and Court Street. According to some reports, at least five manhole covers have blown, and subway stations at Borough Hall and Court Street in Brooklyn have been evacuated and closed. One reader just sent us this email:
2 3 4 and 5 service from Brooklyn to Manhattan is currently suspended in both directions it seems. Borough hall subway station is swarmed with fire engines and firemen, one of whom told me there was a possible explosion in the tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan. The R may still be running, and they couldn't give an estimate for when train service would be restored.
And via Gothamist contribute: "So MAJOR EXPLOSION just outside my build. I thought my building was about to fall over. Everyone is okay. Thanks Goodness! But I am being asked to leave my building. What the heck!" A command post is being set up at Columbia Place & Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, and we'll update as more information becomes available.
UPDATE:The FDNY has requested an additional 2 trucks and the HAZMAT battalion. And the city's Office of Emergency Management announced through Notify NYC: "Emergency personnel are on the scene of multiple manhole fires near Joralemon Street and Columbia Place in downtown Brooklyn." (They're also on Twitter.)
UPDATE 2: More FDNY units are responding, and we're hearing over the newswire that there are "active manholes exploding" and the fire is still not under control. A police officer at the scene told us that after the manhole explosions, there was a transformer explosion, but this has not been officially verified and we're waiting for a statement from NYC Transit. Reader J.Matthew Cahill, who is at the scene, tells us "There are trains stalled on both platforms, and they're roping off the Borough Hall turnstiles and redirecting people to the A/C to get into Manhattan." The Borough Hall train station on Court Street & Joralemon is without power, and all hands are being called to respond.
UPDATE 3: A spokesman for NYC Transit writes: "We did resume 2/3 service with delays between Borough Hall and Wall St, but 4/5 remains out between Atlantic Ave and Fulton St. Started as reports of loss of power, then we were informed of Con Ed feeder problems in area. We had no injuries and I know of no explosions within the system.
UPDATE 4: Commenter Longacre points out that the FDNY command center is set up by the NYCT IRT Substation on Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights. And a local resident who would only give us his first name (Bob) says, "They evacuated our building and there's a big crater surrounding a manhole that exploded near Joralemon and Willow. I heard two other explosions this morning, too."
At around 1:30, a tipster told Brooklyn Heights Blog: "There is an active manhole fire on Joralemon at the corner of Willow Place. Smoke was coming out of the manholes and the street was being closed off as I approached. Suddenly there was an explosion and I saw two manhole covers pop 8-10 feet in the air. I could see the bottom side of the covers and I was standing uphill the manholes! Firefighters are checking the surrounding basements for potential gas leaks."
UPDATE 4:18 p.m.: It's being reported that the cause of the incident was a private contractor installing gas service to a residence in front of the MTA substation at 25 Willow Place. According to Yeshiva World, the contractor struck a NYCT electrical line, causing multiple manholes to explode in the vicinity of 62 Joralemon Street and resulting in a temporary power disruption to the NYCT Borough Hall Station. Below, video from Fox 5's helicopter:
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Gothamist... you seem to be the first ones on this! keep us updated.
this isn't good.
MTA lists the reason for 4/5 service disruption as FDNY activity at "Willow Street" substation. They mean Willow Place...it's a big 100+-year-old IRT substation on a mostly residential block.
Substation as in it provides power to the trains, not like a secret subway station.
Yeah, I heard the explosion from about a block away, and it was LOUD. There were several car alarms going off immediately afterward, presumably from the force of the blow. I have to say, it doesn't surprise me at all that it would be there...that block (Joralemon from Hicks on down toward Willow) is always being dug up for something or other, and there's often a ConEd truck hanging out there.
We live on Joralemon and heard the explosion. As MaiaW said it was, indeed, LOUD. Then the car alarms and now the constant helicopters circling.
http://www.nycsubway.org/tech/power/
Photos of said substation
WABC says "as many as 15 buildings" were evacuated:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=resources/traffic&id=7225130
1010wins though, in a story timestamped just a few minutes ago, says there were "no injuries or evacuations."
http://www.1010wins.com/Manhole-Fire-Snarls-Subway-Service-in-Brooklyn/6143562
Fox has some video
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/brooklyn/100118-manhole-explosions-cause-subway-problems
It's all my fault, I caused the explosions.
Shouldn't have had the second burrito last night.
10 posts til the first fart joke. I'm disappointed.
Rescue trucks are all the down to Yurman St under the promenade
If you could put an hour and minute next to the UPDATE word that would be great.
Good point. "About an hour ago" with only "Update 5" as a clue as to when that might have been is a bit vague.
More pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62826518@N00/sets/72157623112824593/
Much the same as Ben's.
I added some new pics to the set.
Where can I donate money?
I'm putting together a nonprofit now; you'll be able to contribute by text message as soon as I have all the contracts in place to hire my for-profit firms in consulting roles. And I'll be performing at a fundraiser, though of course for very a reasonable fee.
^ lol
Is cash in a sealed envelope acceptable?
I live on Willow Place not far from the explosion site — we were allowed back into our building app 5:15/5:30 pm. Two teams — fire dept and gas co? — came into our place to check for gas/carbon monoxide. However, a neighbor further south on Willow Place had not yet been let in — there were still “dangerous readings” of some sort in his house. Some Joralemon St residents were held back as well.
I think the explosions actually started a little before 1:00 pm — I can tell from the call log on my cell phone. The first explosion was deafeningly loud. I had also noticed , about 10:00 am this morning, that workmen were ripping up the street at the house being renovated on Willow Place-right next to the MTA substation/power station. I debated coming over to them to complain — my understanding was that it was National Grid putting in a gas line for the long-abandoned house, and it’s illiegal to do non-emergency work on a holiday or weekend. (You need special permits.) Since the jackhammering started c. 9/10 am, rather than the usual 7 am, and since it stopped pretty quickly, I didn’t complain. Why alienate a new neighbor?
After the first explosion on Joralemon near Willow Place, I walked over to the National Grid contractors and nagged them a bit about working on a holiday. What do you know, the second explosion came right where I’d been standing, and copious amont of nasty smoke was billowing out of the rectangular cut in the street. That was when I felt sure we’d be evacuated.
Explosion #3 was another manhole cover lift-off on Joralemon, very close to Willow Place. (I didn’t see it, but certainly heard it.) Then we were told to get out. We are back in now, but lots of work is still going on out there. especially on Joralemon St. It looks like several building there are still empty.
Three lessons:
1. National Grid et al must stop using upstate contractors on Brooklyn Hts jobs, unless they brief them first about the morass of water/electric/gas lines right under the pavement. A few years ago half of Willow Place lost electricity becasue an NYC utilitys subcontracto (who drove down from from Spring Valley!) was trying to break asphalt with a backhoe rather than a jackhammer. The sound of the backhoe’s claw hitting pavement shook our windows. Today’s National Grid work may have been what caused all this.
2. Everyone, know where your important papers, prescriptions and absolute necessities are — or have a “Go Bag” at the ready. I was lucky I had 3 or 4 minutes to get what I needed in case a sleepover with the Red Cross at St Charles Borromeo was in my future.
3. Will this incident finally prove to the ESDC/BBPDC/DOT — to whomever is necessary — that Joralemon Street CANNOT be a vehicular entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park? We need retractable bollards at the end of Joralemon, at Furman Street. Pedestrians can then use it as an alternative to Atlantc Avenue, but not the hundreds of cars that could come on the weekends. Joralemon is a fragile cobblestoned street over a major subway line (4/5), layered with a spiderweb of utility pipes and wires for the NY subway system. Doesn’t this near-disaster prove my point.
P.S. I just spoke with new Councilman Steve Levin — he is already informed on this, and will start working on it first thing tomorrow. He also has hired long-time Brownstone Brooklyn Maveness Marian Wood, who knows her way around the brooklyn utitlity companies, among other things.
That should do it. Way to go.
From the pic (in the beginning of this post) it looks like the underbelly shifted or dropped. Twenty=five years ago there were ALWAYS those yellow stacks releasing smoke or condensation up & out of the way of traffic from a lot of manhole covers downtown.