UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) --
A manhole explosion in vicinity of East 73rd and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side caused some minor property damage.It happened under a street construction project around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Eyewitness News reporter Josh Einiger just happened to be at the scene at the time and described the explosion as "extremely loud and startling."
#BREAKING: underground explosion rocks construction site at 73/Madison. No one hurt. @FDNY on scene. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/uBxQ3PNbJO
— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) October 31, 2017
The force of the blast sent metal plates briefly airborne. A few minutes after the incident, black smoke started pouring out of the ground under the plates.
A contractor on that job said he thought it was a transformer, but that is still under investigation.
No one was injured.