By James DeWeese
The explosion, apparently caused by ice-busting road salt that seeped into an underground tunnel and shorted out a copper wire, caused a manhole cover on 39th Avenue near 64th Street to rocket more than two stories into the air and could be felt at least 13 blocks away, witnesses said.”I thought it was World War III,” said Virginia Jonny, whose 63rd Street house shook when the largest of the series of relatively contained blasts took place. “It was very strong. My dog came running. My son – he's a cop – he went running. I got scared. My husband was just going up to the store.”Consolidated Edisonspokesman Art Cronson said salt water seeped into the utility's underground power line channel, provoking a rare buildup of gases and shorting out the copper electricity cable. Witnesses said there were at least three distinct explosions, two smaller ones and the large one that shattered windows.Cronson said the explosion did not cause an electrical power outage.”There's a lot of redundancy built into the system,” Cronson said. “That's why we have really a very high level of reliability in New York City because when something like this happens power can be sent other ways along other cables.”After the explosion residents poured out onto the streets to begin cleaning up the broken window glass that littered the sidewalk.”I'd say we have 50 broken windows,” said Benjamin Udell, 47, a member of the co-op board of the Hicks-Stryker apartment building at the intersection where the explosion occurred. “There was a considerable force.”Built in 1916 and organized as a co-op in 1920, the Hicks-Stryker is one of the oldest co-ops in Woodside. By noon, the building's superintendent, German Barbosa, said he had collected enough glass from the sidewalk to fill three 50-gallon trash barrels.After the explosion, firefighters began removing damaged window sashes from the building. Con Ed dispatched two glaziers to make emergency window repairs, and reimbursement forms were made available to tenants whose property was damaged.Susi Obradovic, 69, was standing with her husband outside the building when the explosion occurred. Obradovic said she and her husband both saw smoke wafting out of a manhole before the explosion which shattered the front door directly behind her.”My husband said, 'I hope it doesn't explode,'” Obradovic said as she helped neighbors sweep up broken glass. It did.”I didn't know which way to run,” said Obradovic, who was so frightened that she cried. “We were lucky none of the glass fell on us.”Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
