SOMERVILLE, MASS. (WHDH) - An underground explosion in Somerville damaged a roadway, left nearby windows shattered and sent a manhole cover onto a building’s roof Thursday morning, but didn’t result in any injuries, officials said.
Somerville firefighters responded to a reported explosion in the area of Cross Street in East Somerville around 4:15 a.m., according to authorities. Once on scene, officials said firefighters determined an underground explosion in an electrical manhole resulted in significant damage to the street and shattered several windows.
“I just heard a big blow and everybody was running,” said Jil Norberto, who ran outside after hearing the explosion. “I didn’t have time to get anything. I just got out on the street with my pajamas.”
“A big explosion and shaking,” said Marcos Alves, who was sleeping in his apartment just feet away from windows damaged by the blast. “Everybody was scared because of the big explosion, the big noise, making pictures fall down.”
In addition to broken windows, Alves said the force of the blast also knocked over pictures.
“[W]hen you look around, pictures are down, windows are broken,” he said. “Terrible.”
The landlord of the three-story apartment building told 7NEWS about 15 people were inside when the street cover blew off. There were no injuries though, and the building did not suffer any structural damage, the landlord said.
Reviewing the damage, officials spent time looking for the manhole cover itself.
A short time later, SKY7HD spotted the covering embedded in the roof of the nearby apartment building, upside-down and three floors up.
With heavy equipment and additional workers, the 200-pound metal object was later recovered from the structure.
Eversource on Thursday said it believes a cable fault contributed to the explosion and a resulting power outage that caused lights to flicker or go out for around 1,500 customers. In the aftermath of this explosion, Eversource also said it plans on installing an energy-release manhole cover to replace the cover that went sky-high – a type of covering designed to mitigate explosions like Thursday’s.
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