Explosions Downtown

[wolverine]

This seems to happen every so once and awhile where underground explosions in steam tunnels or other tunnels carrying gas and electrical lines that send manhole covers and debris flying everywhere. But this one is special, it sent one manhole cover onto the roof of a seven story building! No one was hurt, but people in nearby buildings could really feel the intensity of the explosion.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...NEWS99/61017022

DTE, should really resolve these types of problems.

[dtown]

whoa!

[Michi]

My building, the Buhl Building was evacuated today as a result of this. There was smoke coming into the lobby and so security announced on the loudspeaker that they knew of the source, so if you smell smoke, it's taken care of. During the announcement, a huge, rumbling explosion that shook the building's floors startled everyone listening to the announcement. Not a minute later, a new alarm came on informing everyone to evacuate the building because there was a serious emergency.

The lobby of the Buhl Building stunk and the alley on the south side btw the building and the Griswold Garage was smoking. Maybe one of the manhole covers exploded on the side of the building. Anyway, no one knew when we could go back to work, so we all got to go home early!

[hudkina]

Did anyone think "terrorism" at first?

[Jasoncw]

That's scary! I'll never look at manholes the same way.

[tapezord]

even more reasons to love detroit... :-)

[statedude3]

I saw this happen when I was in Chicago last year...the thing landed on a UPS truck parked at a corner. Let's just say the driver jumped out of the truck and unleashed a litany of adult language.

[RustTown]

It's really only a matter of time before someone is killed or seriously hurt.

[tapezord]

It's really only a matter of time before someone is killed or seriously hurt.

[JeffM]

Imagine if someone was standing on top of that manhole cover!

[RustTown]

the same can be said for a lot of things... I think it would be kick ass to be killed by a flying manhole... way better than a car accident or something...

bottom line is that you can be killed by a lot of things, don't waste time worrying about them.

[statedude3]

there are thousands of manholes in the city...to have this happen once in a great while doesnt seem like reason enough to take action to bolt them down.

We've seen a few gravel haulers tip over in the past couple years...does that mean they should be restricted to certain non-freeways? no. It's just one of those things that will happen, but it's occurance is just too rare to try and prevent.

[RustTown]

I do understand that viewpoint, but I'm not comfortable being so nonchalant about the whole thing, and definitely not to the point of where I'd celebrate it.

[wolverine]

Well in this case it is a big deal. Detroit always has this smell of methane in the air which tells me there are pipes probably leaking. Some simple maintenance would be fine. We have a similar system in Ann Arbor that is well maintained. DTE should do the same. This is just like a building with a broken fire escape or locked fire door. It's easily fixable and worth saving lives.

[RustTown]

Well in this case it is a big deal. Detroit always has this smell of methane in the air which tells me there are pipes probably leaking. Some simple maintenance would be fine. We have a similar system in Ann Arbor that is well maintained. DTE should do the same. This is just like a building with a broken fire escape or locked fire door. It's easily fixable and worth saving lives.

[Michi]

No, there wasn't any thought of terrorism. But the boom and floor vibrations excited people...excited in an uneasy sort of way.

Though the flying manhole covers are a dangerous issue, they are the effect of an electrical explosion underground. That to me, seems like the greater threat. Can the explosions be larger? Can they occur directily underneath building foundations? Could flames ever shoot out of the manholes? And can sections of roadway collapse?

[Allison Slater]

Imagine if someone was standing on top of that manhole cover!

[statedude3]

*BOOM* WHAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOAOA!

So wait, Detroit usually has an odour of methane in the air? Is this primarily downtown or throughout the whole city?

[GRDadof3]

In Detroit's defense, there are many areas of downtown Chicago that smell like sewage (or methane, not sure which), especially on streets that border the Chicago River. You kind of get used to it.

[wolverine]

Downtown Baltimore smells like that too.

Nothing smells worse than areas in SW Detroit though

[RustTown]

This smell is usually downtown. The smell throughout the rest of the city smells much worse than methane...at least in most areas.

[statedude3]

What are you talking about, exactly? Save for the incinerator in Midtown, which often stinks up the air around it (depending on which way the wind blows), the city doesn't have a particular odor to it.

[Michi]

There are few places in the city that I don't like to go after dark, but Chandler Park is one of them. Had a less than comfortable experience there one time. I cringe just thinking about it.

[RustTown]

I just went for a 10 mile run throughout the east side from Lafayette Park to Chandler Park and back. In that loop there were a variety of odors, none of which were pleasant in my opinion. I'm not saying it was awful...but it was certainly noticeable.

[Michi]

Yah, there has actually. Residents had enough and teamed with the police that had been so unresponsive for so long. Hopefully, the popo see the tangible results this has when they actually can pair up with the community in efforts to offer public safety to everyone.

I think there are "youtubes" of Chandler Park that you can view how disgustingly "ghetto" the social atmosphere gets over there at night. Of course, those filming it are proud of that trashy lifestyle. I've seen a few and afterwards thought to myself, "no wonder Detroit ranks near the top in cities with high populations of STDs".