MANHATTAN — A series of explosions rocked New York last night at five locations across the city at approximately 1 AM Saturday morning. The explosions were centered above underground transformer stations and caused minor tremors, fires, power outages and undermined the structural integrity of several older buildings.
On the Upper West Side, an historic building experienced severe structural damage and began to collapse. At least one person was killed and dozens more injured as the property (once a residence, now an office complex) built in the 1700s crumbled into the street. Preliminary reports suggest that the building was not structurally sound prior to the transformer explosion. The Upper West Side event also sparked several small blazes in nearby buildings and a ten block area was plunged into darkness.
Fire broke out on Broadway and W 110th and began burning out of control, engulfing several buildings before the fire brigades got the blaze under control. At least four people are dead and dozens more injured or unaccounted for.
The chaos with the transformers has caused patchy blackouts throughout the city. Authorities say it may take days for power to be restored in the affected areas. Parts of Chinatown are dark, which adds to the tension there.
Unofficial sources say that it looks to have been a surgical strike made by a terrorist group. Authorities will not confirm the cause and will only say that the incident is under investigation. Sources involved with the public works department say that there is no way that a malfunction would cause five transformer stations to explode simultaneously. Until further information is gathered, authorities and the public can only guess at the cause of the explosions.