North End manhole explodes, belches smoke, shoots heavy cover into the air

By adamg on Wed, 08/23/2023 - 9:47pm

Smoking manhole and its newly upside-down cover. Photo by Shamus Moynihan.

Shamus Moynihan reports that a manhole exploded at Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Wharf around 7:30 p.m., sending smoke 30 feet into the air and ejecting its heavy cover hard enough it flew up then came down and landed top down back on the hole. "Luckily, no one was hurt," he says.

Neighborhoods:

Topics:

Free tagging:

Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Ad:

Comments

Saw one steaming pretty bad

By anon
Wed, 08/23/2023 - 10:33pm

Saw one steaming pretty bad right outside the Dept.Mental Health and Ed Brooke Court House last week but crews were pulling up to it already. The old saying about one being cheap, "He throws quarters around like manhole covers" isn't so true when the quarters decide to start flying out of the pockets by themselves when the quarters start to "burn a whole is his pocket" like these smoking and steaming launchers.

Smoke or steam?

By Tim Mc.
Thu, 08/24/2023 - 10:16am

There are steam pipes in the area, and sometimes they heat up groundwater enough to turn it into steam *outside* the pipe, and that steam then comes up through utility covers. (This can make the ground dangerously hot.)

But steam isn't going to make an explosion like this. The usual cause is a neglected gas leak that finally ignites, and what you see afterwards is smoke.

No ours

By burzmali
Thu, 08/24/2023 - 10:42am

I happen to work for one of the most widespread district steam companies in the city and that pipe wasn't one of ours. Either it was a small operation or it wasn't steam. And steam can totally make explosions like that, typically due to steam hammering.

North End manhole explodes, belches smoke, shoots heavy cover into the air

Comments

Saw one steaming pretty bad

Smoke or steam?

No ours

Yet another superb

That's a busy area

I have so many questions

Now, remember,