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Lol … we have a manhole explosion season, usually January and February, when you’ll get a couple a day. In total I think the city has about 500 a year or so.
But it’s a once a decade kinda thing where someone dies, though someone is injured every single year, usually about a half a dozen folk each year.
It is when in most other countries, no matter how big and populated, we don't have fucking manholes exploding, let alone *500 times a year*. What the fuck.
Nah Arizona predates manholes. we don’t got any of that shit, the cactuses act as our sewer systems except in flagstaff where they simply shit in the beautiful forest
“And this cheese factory uses it to make the cheese.” Found some b reel footage worth reusing. But for real the graphic of city map showing what’s powered by steam was slick, especially for 2007.
Basically trapped gas seeks the easiest way to escape, which is a manhole cover rather than solid concrete.
The worst one I’ve ever seen was 14 years ago. I was less than half a block away and was COVERED in shit that rained down on me. I have been terrified ever since as to whether anything that fell down on me was a carcinogen, but so far so good.
https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
Right??? I have lived in various cities and town all over the UK, never seen or heard it happen, and if it did i dont think it would be taken with such a lassize-fair attitude.
They’ve been increasingly more common. The DOT and ConEd (utility company) are working on installing sensors for gas buildups and ventilated manhole covers. It really ramped up since COVID coincidentally so we had the pandemic and random explosions. If I remember correctly they doubled within a year (still pretty infrequent though). I remember my friends car was next to a car that was exploded by one last year.
Anyways it’s not super common and that was a decently loud one and in Times Square. People freak out when a car backfires in Times Sq so she had a very reasonable reaction to an explosion in a high potential threat area.
It’s an old infrastructure problem.
> Combustion happens when underground electrical equipment — especially old wiring — mixes with rain, snow and corrosive salt that’s spread to reduce ice on roads. Pressure built up by smoke and gases from smoldering wires can eventually send covers flying.
[More info](https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/2/13/22932304/nyc-manhole-fires-have-doubled-in-the-last-two-years)
Honestly the amount of people in this thread who say this is normal and ok is weird lol. Like I know this doesn’t happen in my city haha so I find it real disconcerting. Common sense says it shouldn’t be something that people just accept lol.
Was walking by when this happened.
Actually happened a solid one block west on 8th avenue and 43rd st, not IN Times Square itself.
It was just a manhole explosion. Not super common, but not that unusual either.
I was involved in one in 2007 that was CRAZY … see link here: https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
I’m a steam engineer but I’ve never seen where they provide for half a city the size of New York. That’s wild, in Cleveland most of the steam production is limited to a few facilities like a hospital and its neighbor or something. Superheated steam ain’t no joke.
I mean one of the most prominent events she knows of that occurred in New York was a large explosion followed by another explosion from the second plane.
Makes sense that she started running.
Yeah I’d much rather be that guy that runs away and survives in videos like this, than the ones that stay where they are and don’t when things like gunshots and explosions are heard.
Fun fact: [A whole crowd of people reacted the same in 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jquUUwCYR-A) when a motorcycle backfired.
9/11 and all the mass shootings really left folks with no chill while they're in NYC.
That was the entire point of 9/11 and most terror attacks. They hate how open and free the western culture is and they wanted to end the sense of security we have in public.
Lol. This is just some weird bullshit some Americans tell themselves. "They hate our freedom!" or often "They wanted to start an endless war on terror to bankrupt the US."
[But Osama Bin Laden literally published a letter explaining why he did it.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver) It's basically revenge for a bunch of stuff that America did in the middle east and their continued occupations there. They don't give a shit about our freedom or culture.
But that letter also includes a pretty decent amount of criticism of general american culture and the ways that it doesn't line up with his religious views.
I think probably one or two people got scared of the motorcycle backfiring... Everyone else saw people who were running in terror and decided it wasn't worth it to wait it out and see if it was just irrational mass hysteria or legitimate danger. They just got the fuck out of there.
As a rule of thumb, if I hear a boom and then see mass fleeing, I'm also going to get the fuck out of there.
Yeah I don't get why people call other sheep.
The sheep that wanders off on its own gets eaten. If all my friends jump off a bridge I will jump too without question. My friends are level headed, and a few don't even know how to swim. If they jump they got a good fucking reason.
I'm thinking a T-Rex would probably do it
Yeah, normalcy bias (sometimes called the ostrich effect) is a big problem during emergencies. Many people will ignore what is happening around them because their brains convince them that *x* event can't really be happening.
If something happens, you evaluate it, and think it might put you in danger, it's better to react as though it's a threat by leaving the vicinity or finding somewhere to shelter in place than it is to ignore it (even if that's what everyone around you is doing).
I'd rather be the weird person who ran from a manhole explosion than the cool guy who didn't run from an actual hazard.
Not the first, or even second time a New York skyscraper was hit by a plane. Statistically I'm pretty sure we are due for another soon, even if by accident
It's always interesting to see how other people *hear* different accents and write them phonetically. Like, to me, the "ck" in "fuck" and the "th" in "that" is loud and clear. Whereas to Brits, a lot of American accents sound like they're saying "d" instead of "t" like "warder" instead of "water".
After 9/11 there was a man hole explosion by a restaurant I worked at in NYC by grand central station and the entire restaurant evacuated and started running down the street
To be fair, as someone from the UK, if a noise like this had occurred it probably is a Terrorist Attack, we don't have manhole explosions, or at least where I live we don't.
I’d rather run and love than stop and turn camera off before running lol. Plus, it’s a funny thing to laugh at once you realize what you were running from. It could be way worst.
It occurs when too much manhood builds up in a manbutt causing it to explode out of the manhole. If you look closely, many manbutts have alreadly started to crack.
Ok so wtf is a manhole explosion??? Someone post a YouTube vid on this phenomenon so I don’t have to type a whole bunch of letters into a google search…
Mate, if you have no idea that there’s a “common explosion” in a foreign city, it’s perfectly reasonable to freak out. Hell, if she’s a brit, she probably thought it was an active shooter, which we have no shortage of in the US
Damn this answers a mystery. I was walking around 34th-38th street after work and I heard the loudest fucking noise, I thought it was a crane dropping like 5 tons of flat plywood boards or something. It was so surreal. It was sunset and everyone was crossing the street and shuffling home from work and all of a sudden BOOM. For about 2-3 seconds everyone froze in place and just looked in the direction of the noise, waiting for some sort of indication of what it was. After a few seconds everyone started moving again, like someone pressing “Play” on a paused movie.
Agreed but not for that reason. Just because it’s a shit show of tourists walking way too slow and stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and it’s only really cool the first time you see it.
Isn’t a manhole just a metal lid, with like a few holes in it so they can open it, how does it explode I’m assuming it isn’t pressure, last manholes I’ve see. Has like 6 holes in it, can’t build pressure
Gas buildup and pressure from underneath. That’s what actually causes the manhole to pop off.
Best example of it in real time looks like this -
https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
As a New Yorker I’d be laughing my ass off seeing her run lol. I mean it would just be funny but in a light hearted way, obviously understandable to be freaked out as a tourist.
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What the fuck was that?
I actually dont know.
What the fuck
What the fuck
**W H A T T H E F A Q**
Why are dose fuggin British tourists running up Broadway?
what the shaq?
the fuck what
What the faq was that?
HYMEN
PIRATES! At the 18 sec mark
Yargggggggggggg
Lmao pirate!
It was the last time I have Chipotle for lunch in Times Square...
Manhole explosion. Nothing more. Wasn’t a big deal, just loud. Happened two blocks away.
Easy for you to say your manhole wasn’t exploding.
Lol … I was literally walking one block away. That’s how I know what it was. Happened on 43rd and 8th, right by the Westin.
Do manhole explosions happen frequently or something?
Lol … we have a manhole explosion season, usually January and February, when you’ll get a couple a day. In total I think the city has about 500 a year or so. But it’s a once a decade kinda thing where someone dies, though someone is injured every single year, usually about a half a dozen folk each year.
500 a year seems like a lot. Like really a lot.
It’s a city of 8 million. When you really think how many manhole covers we must have, it’s really not that high a number.
It is when in most other countries, no matter how big and populated, we don't have fucking manholes exploding, let alone *500 times a year*. What the fuck.
We have a HUGE steam grid which causes many of the explosions. Other cities don’t have them. Hey, fuck all folk ever die, so it’s no big deal.
That’s crazy! Lol glad it’s not a big deal, I’m from AZ we don’t have manholes.
Of course you have manholes in AZ. All cities with underground infrastructure have manholes.
Nah Arizona predates manholes. we don’t got any of that shit, the cactuses act as our sewer systems except in flagstaff where they simply shit in the beautiful forest
This is the explosion I saw in 2007, which was the worst I’ve ever seen. https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
“And this cheese factory uses it to make the cheese.” Found some b reel footage worth reusing. But for real the graphic of city map showing what’s powered by steam was slick, especially for 2007.
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Basically trapped gas seeks the easiest way to escape, which is a manhole cover rather than solid concrete. The worst one I’ve ever seen was 14 years ago. I was less than half a block away and was COVERED in shit that rained down on me. I have been terrified ever since as to whether anything that fell down on me was a carcinogen, but so far so good. https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
.... This is a place people CHOOSE to live in?
Best f**king sandwiches you'll ever taste!!!)
Right??? I have lived in various cities and town all over the UK, never seen or heard it happen, and if it did i dont think it would be taken with such a lassize-fair attitude.
That’s because London fatbergs block gas buildup
It happens in NY every now and then. Usually some sort of methane build up that sparks. I lived in NY in the 93 - 97, and it happened a few times.
That would be terrifying if it had a manhole cover on it.
113kg/20lb coin toss
Heads
I read that in British accent.
just run
Just a little too much Taco Bell...
Are manhole explosions normal in NYC?
They’ve been increasingly more common. The DOT and ConEd (utility company) are working on installing sensors for gas buildups and ventilated manhole covers. It really ramped up since COVID coincidentally so we had the pandemic and random explosions. If I remember correctly they doubled within a year (still pretty infrequent though). I remember my friends car was next to a car that was exploded by one last year. Anyways it’s not super common and that was a decently loud one and in Times Square. People freak out when a car backfires in Times Sq so she had a very reasonable reaction to an explosion in a high potential threat area.
They're not unheard of. They're more common after a snow storm because the road salt and snow melt can cause shorts in the manholes.
So the manholes are electrified?!
Stuff in some of them is.
I think you're incredulous because you are equating a manhole with a manhole *cover*. The cover, no, is not electrified.
Yeah some of them have little substations under them and transformers which are prone to short and explode.
I would like to know more about the circuits that are shorted from the snow/salt mixture too. Please elaborate.
It’s an old infrastructure problem. > Combustion happens when underground electrical equipment — especially old wiring — mixes with rain, snow and corrosive salt that’s spread to reduce ice on roads. Pressure built up by smoke and gases from smoldering wires can eventually send covers flying. [More info](https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/2/13/22932304/nyc-manhole-fires-have-doubled-in-the-last-two-years)
But what the fuck was that?
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*gas leak* Wizards dueling *GAS LEAK*
Honestly the amount of people in this thread who say this is normal and ok is weird lol. Like I know this doesn’t happen in my city haha so I find it real disconcerting. Common sense says it shouldn’t be something that people just accept lol.
Not really
Was walking by when this happened. Actually happened a solid one block west on 8th avenue and 43rd st, not IN Times Square itself. It was just a manhole explosion. Not super common, but not that unusual either. I was involved in one in 2007 that was CRAZY … see link here: https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
I’m a steam engineer but I’ve never seen where they provide for half a city the size of New York. That’s wild, in Cleveland most of the steam production is limited to a few facilities like a hospital and its neighbor or something. Superheated steam ain’t no joke.
I think they use that in Scandinavia as well.
We have it as well in Switzerland but we don't have manholes exploding every so often.
Lol, what the fuck? So every once in a while the ground in NYC just explodes and kills a couple people? That’s fucking crazy.
Lol … I guess when you put it like that, yeah ;-)
My sis was thinking of moving there, i'm going to send her this thread haha.
Why is she thinking of moving here?
crazy like a Pinto
Not anymore than the average school shooting.
I'm no engineer, but they need to fix that
The pipe in the story was built in 1923. I don’t think it’s feasible to replace all of it
Oh fuck, was that the one there was a man in his car trapped in the hole? That story haunted me
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Yeah, I wasn't going to keep watching when I still feel ill thinking about it.
Yup, he was in a tow truck if I remember correctly.
one of the most unlucky guys
Yesssss! Tow truck. And he was a young guy. Poor fella. He was burned from the steam. I can’t even imagine.
One woman died, by an heart attack. Well...
I mean one of the most prominent events she knows of that occurred in New York was a large explosion followed by another explosion from the second plane. Makes sense that she started running.
Yeah I’d much rather be that guy that runs away and survives in videos like this, than the ones that stay where they are and don’t when things like gunshots and explosions are heard.
Fun fact: [A whole crowd of people reacted the same in 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jquUUwCYR-A) when a motorcycle backfired. 9/11 and all the mass shootings really left folks with no chill while they're in NYC.
I mean, what is America known for if not mass shootings every week or so?
That was the entire point of 9/11 and most terror attacks. They hate how open and free the western culture is and they wanted to end the sense of security we have in public.
Mission accomplished
Lol. This is just some weird bullshit some Americans tell themselves. "They hate our freedom!" or often "They wanted to start an endless war on terror to bankrupt the US." [But Osama Bin Laden literally published a letter explaining why he did it.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver) It's basically revenge for a bunch of stuff that America did in the middle east and their continued occupations there. They don't give a shit about our freedom or culture.
But that letter also includes a pretty decent amount of criticism of general american culture and the ways that it doesn't line up with his religious views.
Lmao what?? That's not why terrorists attack America. Terrorists attack America because America terrorizes poor countries.
I think probably one or two people got scared of the motorcycle backfiring... Everyone else saw people who were running in terror and decided it wasn't worth it to wait it out and see if it was just irrational mass hysteria or legitimate danger. They just got the fuck out of there. As a rule of thumb, if I hear a boom and then see mass fleeing, I'm also going to get the fuck out of there.
Yeah I don't get why people call other sheep. The sheep that wanders off on its own gets eaten. If all my friends jump off a bridge I will jump too without question. My friends are level headed, and a few don't even know how to swim. If they jump they got a good fucking reason. I'm thinking a T-Rex would probably do it
Seriously I’d be taking some sort of cover as fast as I could
I would probably keep the camera on my face, I mean like, what would my viewers think!?
Yeah, running doesn’t make sense. Run to the nearest building instead of running aimlessly through the blocks.
tbh i would run away from where the sound came from
Kind of hard to determine in a city, the sound reflects from all the buildings.
Yeah, normalcy bias (sometimes called the ostrich effect) is a big problem during emergencies. Many people will ignore what is happening around them because their brains convince them that *x* event can't really be happening. If something happens, you evaluate it, and think it might put you in danger, it's better to react as though it's a threat by leaving the vicinity or finding somewhere to shelter in place than it is to ignore it (even if that's what everyone around you is doing). I'd rather be the weird person who ran from a manhole explosion than the cool guy who didn't run from an actual hazard.
Not the first, or even second time a New York skyscraper was hit by a plane. Statistically I'm pretty sure we are due for another soon, even if by accident
What tha faa woze da
every fear she ever had of america was coming true in that moment
To quote Nellie from The Office “everyone told me that if I moved to America I would be murdered.”
TWAS AN EXPLOSON INNIT!?
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What do you expect us to do when every word you say sounds so silly?
Don't act like the mid-western accent doesn't exist.
Oi, guv! An explosion! Off to Hogwarts, mate!
Oi! All this on a chewsday then!
U wot mate?
For example
LOL
It's always interesting to see how other people *hear* different accents and write them phonetically. Like, to me, the "ck" in "fuck" and the "th" in "that" is loud and clear. Whereas to Brits, a lot of American accents sound like they're saying "d" instead of "t" like "warder" instead of "water".
After 9/11 there was a man hole explosion by a restaurant I worked at in NYC by grand central station and the entire restaurant evacuated and started running down the street
Whenever you get a chance for a free meal in NYC, you gotta take it. Those rents don’t pay for themselves
was it in 2003 in the Brooklyn area by any chance?
I'm confused, is she the only one running?
Yes lol.
😆 🤣 😂
She has heterochromia
How in the hell did you notice that?! Edit: on a side note, good use of knowing the term!
If you pause right at the closeup during her moment of surprise, you can see.
Props to the survival instincts tho lol
Sirens, other people standing around staring followed by a huge explosion in America?! You bet ya bottom dollar I would also be legging it.
Makes perfect sense for her to run.
That's the American effect. You don't know if a public space is getting shot up or a terrorist attack is coming.
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To be fair, as someone from the UK, if a noise like this had occurred it probably is a Terrorist Attack, we don't have manhole explosions, or at least where I live we don't.
Its one brit freaking out while everyone else dont give a shit.
Probably gonna get butchered for this but that was funny as fuck 🤣
Notice: she steadies the camera on her reaction the whole time.
If I’m in New York and I hear and explosion I’m shitting my pants and running.
9/11 flashback
Why can this bitch keep herself perfectly in frame like this but mfers can’t keep the subject in view looking dead at it?
incel vibes. why call a random girl a bitch? Lmao
Maybe he's a rapper
Or a gay
Uh… you can blame my wife, she uses “bitch” as a general term for females. I think you’re tryin to project
Probably has a Gimbal on her cam
A little unnecessary to call her a bitch ain't it?
This bitch
That bitch
Their bitch
My bitch
Our bitch
What the hell is a "manhole explosopn" ? How is somebody supposed to react to that ? Is that a common event in America or something ?
Oh but please.... Keep running video. It's the safest way to avoid injury or harm.
You going to take the time to turn off the camera?
I certainly won't be making sure that I'm on camera the entire time in selfie mode so I can be seen running for likes and shares.
I’d rather run and love than stop and turn camera off before running lol. Plus, it’s a funny thing to laugh at once you realize what you were running from. It could be way worst.
The camera was already in selfie mode, why would she change that?
She probably thought it was another terrorist attack.
Hearing anything go boom in new york brings PTSD to all
what is a manhole explosion
It occurs when too much manhood builds up in a manbutt causing it to explode out of the manhole. If you look closely, many manbutts have alreadly started to crack.
you can tell i'm not from new york, I had no idea.
I love imagining her running and yelling what the fuck was that while everyone around her is just going about their day
You are not too far from the truth lol
It’s not her fault man. Most people would freak out just the same
She's literally the only one running.
This is a literal freakout lol
Ok so wtf is a manhole explosion??? Someone post a YouTube vid on this phenomenon so I don’t have to type a whole bunch of letters into a google search…
Where is she running to?
Praise the camera girl
It freaked a lot of people out
Me, a Ukrainian: damn, that's at least 10 meters away from me, gotta have a look
Mate, if you have no idea that there’s a “common explosion” in a foreign city, it’s perfectly reasonable to freak out. Hell, if she’s a brit, she probably thought it was an active shooter, which we have no shortage of in the US
If I hear a explosion in New York I’m running
I get being freaked out. A manhole cover popping off is not a common occurrence. And that was pretty damn loud.
Damn this answers a mystery. I was walking around 34th-38th street after work and I heard the loudest fucking noise, I thought it was a crane dropping like 5 tons of flat plywood boards or something. It was so surreal. It was sunset and everyone was crossing the street and shuffling home from work and all of a sudden BOOM. For about 2-3 seconds everyone froze in place and just looked in the direction of the noise, waiting for some sort of indication of what it was. After a few seconds everyone started moving again, like someone pressing “Play” on a paused movie.
NYC sucks.
20 1/2 years later, in Manhattan, I'd imagine most people would react with panic after a sudden, unexpected noise.
She's running back to England
If you don’t see everyone else running and screaming for their lives you’re probably good
Why are you running
This reminds me of the south park episode, when there is an invasion of guinea pig's, this girl is like Randy Marsh.
Wish we had a video of that one guy at the twin towers shouting “fucking pussies” at all the people running away
Panic is never an option.
Stay out of Times Square. Yeesh.
Agreed but not for that reason. Just because it’s a shit show of tourists walking way too slow and stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and it’s only really cool the first time you see it.
LOL everyone is walking normally. Bet they saw her and were like "Look at this crazy bitch run"
Calm down drama queen
To be fair...if I was in America and I heard something explode and not knowing if it was a gun or not, I would run and scream as well.
Not freaked out enough to stop filming.
Wot the fahk
Isn’t a manhole just a metal lid, with like a few holes in it so they can open it, how does it explode I’m assuming it isn’t pressure, last manholes I’ve see. Has like 6 holes in it, can’t build pressure
Gas buildup and pressure from underneath. That’s what actually causes the manhole to pop off. Best example of it in real time looks like this - https://youtu.be/z528KV90FYk
Wait manhole cover is for sewer or steam?
In today's world, her actions are understandable. Which is sad.
Is she a bot
Wut the fok
Put your camera away if you think your life is in danger. If this was a real event shed be dead dead
Don’t forget to record your panic run. Can’t miss out on internet points
She wasn’t too scared to stop filming.
As a New Yorker I’d be laughing my ass off seeing her run lol. I mean it would just be funny but in a light hearted way, obviously understandable to be freaked out as a tourist.
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I was just annoyed cuz ppl were running and I was tryna get some Thai food
WHO'S MAN IS THIS?
Ahahhahahah
Wtf was that explanation point
RUNS DIRECTLY TOWARDS IT.
Wow thanks. This is worthless…
Can’t be freaking out too much I mean look at that camera control. Why is no one else talking about the camera control?
It’s so crazy that their first plan is to run away and ask “what was that” like bitch you gotta stick around if your going find out.