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Downtown blasts blow off manhole covers, close streets
Multiple underground explosions rocked downtown this morning, blowing manhole covers off their bases and causing several street closings.
Police are blocking about a one-block area along Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey, near the Athenaeum, as workers with Indiana Power and Light and Citizens Gas try to discover the cause of the explosions. No injuries have been reported at this time.
IPL Spokewoman Crystal Livers-Powers said workers are trying to de-energize the manhole at Michigan and New Jersey so they can investigate. Some secondary electrical cables caught fire this morning, but were extinguished. It doesn’t appear any homes lost power, she said, although church services at the Athenaeum were cancelled. Athenaeum Foundation President Cassie Stockamp said all activities and business at the historic building, including the Rathskeller, would continue as normal today.
Livers-Powers expects the road closure to be in effect most of today and into the night, but didn’t know if the incident could effect commuters tomorrow morning.
The explosions started around 6:36 a.m. this morning, when firefighters investigating a gas odor in the 400 block of E. Michigan Street saw a manhole cover across the street blow with enough force to wake other firefighters at a nearby station, Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Rita Burris said in a news release. As the flames erupted from the manhole, a second manhole cover near the Athenaeum blew, damaging a window and some bricks. Moments later, a third manhole cover blew, this time underneath a fire engine, striking the underside. At least two other nearby manhole covers were knocked off their bases as well.
Despite the initial reports of a gas smell, Citizens Gas Spokesman Arish Rountree said workers don’t believe the explosions were gas related.
Multiple underground explosions rocked downtown this morning, blowing manhole covers off their bases and causing several street closings.
Police are blocking about a one-block area along Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey, near the Athenaeum, as workers with Indiana Power and Light and Citizens Gas try to discover the cause of the explosions. No injuries have been reported at this time.
IPL Spokewoman Crystal Livers-Powers said workers are trying to de-energize the manhole at Michigan and New Jersey so they can investigate. Some secondary electrical cables caught fire this morning, but were extinguished. It doesn’t appear any homes lost power, she said, although church services at the Athenaeum were cancelled. Athenaeum Foundation President Cassie Stockamp said all activities and business at the historic building, including the Rathskeller, would continue as normal today.
Livers-Powers expects the road closure to be in effect most of today and into the night, but didn’t know if the incident could effect commuters tomorrow morning.
The explosions started around 6:36 a.m. this morning, when firefighters investigating a gas odor in the 400 block of E. Michigan Street saw a manhole cover across the street blow with enough force to wake other firefighters at a nearby station, Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Rita Burris said in a news release. As the flames erupted from the manhole, a second manhole cover near the Athenaeum blew, damaging a window and some bricks. Moments later, a third manhole cover blew, this time underneath a fire engine, striking the underside. At least two other nearby manhole covers were knocked off their bases as well.
Despite the initial reports of a gas smell, Citizens Gas Spokesman Arish Rountree said workers don’t believe the explosions were gas related.
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