Lots of video from South Minneapolis after natural gas explosions & fire. No injuries.
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A natural gas line exploded in south Minneapolis near 60th St. and Nicollet Ave. on Thursday, sending flames shooting high into the sky, scorching nearby vehicles and forcing authorities to close a busy freeway until officials could inspect it for damage.
Assistant Fire Chief Cherie Penn told reporters that authorities shut off the gas in the area late Thursday morning. There were no fatalities and no injuries as a result of the explosion.
A major trunk gas line for that section of Minneapolis exploded, and state pipeline safety officials spent much of Thursday afternoon on the scene, according to Rebecca Virden, a spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy.
The blast left a large hole in the road. The flames died after authorities shut off the gas line a little more than an hour after the explosion.
Surveillance video from the nearby Cub Foods store shows three cars driving on 60th St. directly over the road just before the explosion.
Gas levels in the air had reached 80 parts per million but were back down to zero within a few hours, Penn said, adding that people were still being evacuated from the area as a precaution.
“I think the situation is as under control as it can be,” Mayor R.T. Rybak told reporters.
The blast happened around 8:45 a.m. on the street in front of a Cub Foods supermarket located at 5937 Nicollet Ave. S., in a residential and industrial area near the interchange of Interstate 35W and Highway 62. Penn said there was a secondary explosion shortly after the first. Cars in the parking lot were scorched in the blast.
