Flames shooting out of manhole covers

Marianne, a new North End resident (she'd only gotten her bed delivered yesterday), fled back to her dad's house in New Hampshire for the night:

... Well my new neighborhood - the North End - has been having electrical related fires and explosions under the streets nearby where I live. Not only does it petrify me to see flames shooting out of manhole covers 2 streets away (given my present circumstances) but it has also knocked out all the electricity in the neighborhood.

Now my apartment (with barely any furniture, no Internet, and no cable) is boring enough WITH electricity. I couldn't bear to sit in the dark with no a/c on a 90 degree night. ...