Ack, glad I don't live in New York City

[wraithfodder]

Came home, turned on the TV to see a 'breaking news' story on an explosion in NYC. My brother was watching too and said "steam" immediately. Apparently (it's all speculation right now) an old steam pipe ruptured and kaboom! The steam has finally vented and stopped. At the bottom of hte pretty big crater is a red towtruck, and I can only hope the poor driver's death was instantaneous. :(  [As of this moment, one of 12 taken to the hospital just died from steam burns.] One of the big problems with old pipes (20") and the possibility of a transformer going too, means PCBs and other nasty contaminants, so they're telling people to clear the area, but you watch the news and people are standing there taking photos with their cellphones! Bangs head on keyboard.

Tomorrow's NYC commute is gonna be hell.

Comments

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Turned on the news this morning and they've cordoned off a whole block. Seems the only person in critical condition was the driver of that red tow truck that's currently in the pit.

Yeah, you'd think people would learn after 9/11 to just get the hell out of there, but I think if you don't see it coming toward you, you just don't think. At least that seems to be the attitude of lots of folk - toxic stuff floating in the area just isn't visible, but I noticed a number of folk on the news today were wearing masks around the site. Although the mayor says there's no asbestos, I sorta remember the gov't saying the air was safe around ground zero, too...