Update: Missing woman found. Scroll down.
A THUNDEROUS EXPLOSION THAT SHOOK AN ENTIRE CITY BLOCK Friday afternoon destroyed a 2-family house in the New York City neighborhood of Floral Park in Queens. The resulting fire also damaged the two homes on each side to the extent that they might be condemned.
New York Daily News
ConEd crews were already in the neighborhood checking on reports for natural gas odors. That combined with the type of house explosion make strong evidence for a gas leak being the cause of the blast. The New York Daily News reports:
The next-door neighbors summoned Con Ed to their house when they noticed the electricity in the front rooms of the house was off and called the utility. About 20 minutes later they smelled gas and called again.
“They came pretty promptly,” Stanley Barth said.
The utility worker checked the basement, found evidence of a gas leak and went across the street to inspect a manhole.
“While they were searching for that gas leak, removing the manhole cover, the building … exploded,” FDNY Chief of Operations Patrick McNally said.
One woman is still missing from the house and fire crews are searching through the debris to see if she can be located. It’s not known if she was home at the time or not. Six people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries – a resident of a neighboring house that caught fire, the utility worker who was struck by the manhole cover, and four firefighters.
WNYW-TV has some helicopter video taken about a half-hour after the blast:
Update, Saturday 9 am:
The New York Daily News is reporting that the body of the woman who was missing in the fire was located by rescuers just before 9 pm Friday night. Everybody else has been accounted for. Read the latest update for more information HERE.
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