Close call caught on video: Electrical explosion in St. Petersburg, Florida
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(Thanks to Rob Shuff for sending this one to STATter911.)
Video taken by two women in downtown St. Petersburg illustrates just how violent Monday afternoon’s underground transformer blast was.
The footage, shared by Vanessa Herring and Hannah Rebholz, shows dark smoke billowing from a manhole along 3rd Street N, between 1st Avenue and Central. That’s not far from where the women work, they explained.
“Stand back, guys,” one of the women can be heard yelling to the firefighters in the footage, just before an explosion.
The blast sent everyone running as flames erupted from the manhole. Luckily, Rebholz said, no one was injured.
The transformer fire caused a wide blackout. Power was out for much of the area through the night, but had mostly been restored by 9 a.m. A long-term fix is still in the works.
