At about noon on November 8th, 2006, a bomb exploded in Kirby Plaza, Midtown, Manhattan.
It was estimated to be a 10-kiloton nuclear explosion. Effects from the blast stretched the width of the island, north through half of Central Park, and south to Madison Square Garden.
A crater 300 feet in diameter now fills the space between what used to be 57th and 42nd streets, centered along Broadway. For half a mile in all directions from ground zero, buildings were largely obliterated. Some battered structures still stand on the edges of this range, broken and unstable. At this half-mile point, 50% of those present on the day of the explosion died from the blast or shrapnel thrown by it. Closer to ground zero, few to none survived the explosion.
Those who survived were badly burned by the blast. Many, many more died from extensive burns, or burns that could not be treated in time, the city's hospitals being filled to overflowing and beyond with those needing aid. Of those who were rescued from zones near ground zero, many were blinded by the flash accompanying the explosion.
Prevailing winds at the time of the blast carried the fallout plume southwest from ground zero. Midtown West, Chelsea, Garment District, western portions of Greenwich Village and SoHo, and points beyond Jersey City and Hoboken all received doses of radiation. From Times Square to Chelsea, as many as 35% of those who survived the blast died within a month from radiation sickness. Others, both there and as far away as Jersey City and Communipaw, fell ill but did not die from the radiation directly — those who died were killed by secondary, opportunistic infections.
In the years following the bomb's explosion the numbers of known fatalities are widely accepted and well-understood, though they varied wildly in the time immediately following the blast. An estimated 193,000 people died instantly when the bomb detonated, followed by another 315,000 who suffered grievous injuries. Nearly 600,000 people were impacted by the sickness caused by the radioactive fallout which was blown southwest due to the prevailing wind direction on the day of the blast. The radioactive fallout spread as far as
New York's economy and infrastructure also took a serious blow. Much of Midtown West, Times Square, and Garment District were uninhabitable for months after the explosion; even the salvageable regions are still shunned by most, for fear of lingering radiation. The southern half of Central Park, the lower part of Upper West Side, and parts of Midtown East, Murray Hill, Gramercy, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village were similarly abandoned for the first few weeks and months after the bomb. People have returned to them since, but none of these neighborhoods are quite what they used to be.
Detailed Diagram with impact radius notes
This devastation, however, paled in comparison to the firebombing of Manhattan that occurred during the Second American Civil War that created the Manhattan Exclusion Zone.