NY Post – April 13, 2016
by Audrey Williams and Daniel Prendergast
A water main break caused massive plumes of steam to come swirling up from under a Midtown street Monday, shutting down an entire block.
Utilities were cut to several buildings along West 58th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues after the main burst around 9:30 a.m., officials said.
The intense steam was caused by leaking water that came into contact with a hot steam pipe under the concrete.
“My apartment was full of steam,” said local resident Joel Reed, 83.
“There was steam coming in the window and I thought they were cleaning the building next door. The firemen came and evacuated people from the building.”
The heat was so intense that it caused the concrete to buckle, according to fire officials.
“You can see that there is some buckling in the street, so what we needed to do was make sure that we kept everybody sheltered in place here in the building,” said FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corado.
“We just checked the basements for any utility issues; gas, electric or steam.”
Corado said that after meeting with officials from several other agencies including Con Ed and the Department of Environmental Protection, they decided to shut down the whole block.
“They’re going to have to dig up the street and fix that leak,” Corado said.
Officials are still on scene trying to resolve the issue.
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