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The latter.

Sorry, don't know more than that. He called to tell us he was ok, but 'covered in debris'. Another employee who was in the parking lot by Harborside said the ground shook beneath her feet and that she saw a flash of light - must have been the car catching on fire? I was at my desk when it happened. All that happened was the power going out but coming back on (generator?) right afterwards. The elevators didn't, however. When we got the calls about an 'explosion', we all left. We're not an alarmist bunch, but people are just different about 'explosions' in financial business areas nowadays. I'm surprised that it didn't merit any coverage on the local broadcast news, however. I didn't see anything? Did anyone? Just the story of a manhole blowout and underground fire in the Bronx somewhere. Did they not want to do another similar story or did JC not rate?

FIRE FROM BELOW
Manhole blows, woman burned

Saturday, May 26, 2007
By N. CLARK JUDD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Newark woman in her parked car at the foot of Christopher Columbus Drive near Exchange Place was injured yesterday when an underground transformer exploded, blowing a manhole cover into the air and reducing her car to a charred heap, officials and eyewitnesses told The Jersey Journal.

"It shook the building. Everyone thought that it was another plane, another terrorist attack," said Steve Mason, a contractor working inside 10 Exchange Place at the time.

Police said Jersey City Medical Center personnel had removed Mille Nardja, 22, of Newark, from her blackened Nissan Sentra by the time they arrived on the scene.

Nardja sustained first-and second-degree burns to her foot and was taken to the Medical Center for treatment, police said. A black Toyota 4Runner damaged by the blast also was towed, according to police.

A spokesman for PSE&G confirmed that the transformer malfunctioned, but said it did not cause any power outages. The cause of the malfunction is under investigation, the spokesman added.

A large area of Columbus Drive next to the PATH station was cordoned off by police and firefighters, but train service was not interrupted, Port Authority officials said.

Thanks for posting, GP. I thought it was just my bldg. as condomania has struck and workers everywhere here so thought it one of them!

Thank goodness for surge protectors, as pc was covered, but nearly lost an ac as I did last year in similar outage so need to buy another surge tomorrow for my ac.

It was wads of money spewing forth from the financial firms.

ianmac47 ,

About two and a half hours ago all of downtown (west of grove included) had it's power blink off and on -- including all the traffic lights -- so your alarm clock might be off. It was only for 20 seconds or so -- twice and it's been fine since.

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Korova,

No problem,

When you say "One of our employees was on his way to the Path and got covered in debris" can you elaborate? Was it more than manhole covers flying off? Just curious.

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I live a few blocks west of Grove (Jersey/Coles) - when I got home around 5, I could tell my power must have been out because just one of my clocks was blinking.

I don't think it was out too long, because the VCR clock (which takes a few minutes to go off) was still working. And everything in the fridge/freezer was still good and cold.

What about west of Grove?

I just came from Target, and the lights are on in the Newport area and Washington Blvd. Lights and air-conditioners are on in Paulus Hook.

So what doesn't have power?

Thanks for the post! I was working at Harborside when this happened, and nobody knew what was going on. I haven't been able to find anything on it. We all left the office after this happened (had to walk down 29 flights of stairs). One of our employees was on his way to the Path and got covered in debris, but thank goodness - was not hurt. Of course, the b-word is always on everyone's mind! Good to know that's not what it was and only one person was hurt.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5339397

Underground Explosion in Downtown Jersey City

One person slightly injured
WABC Eyewitness News

(New Jersey- WABC, May 25, 2007) - Jersey City Police says an underground transformer near 10 Exchange Place in downtown Jersey City has exploded.
As a result of the explosion, a car parked above the transformer vault caught fire. An unidentified woman who was in the car has been slightly hurt.

The force of the explosion apparently also popped a manhole in the vicinity of the transformer vault.

Police, fire and PSE&G crews are on the scene.

The cause of the explosion is not known.

(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)

Not sure yet on details but around 4:10 pm Friday -- at the foot of Columbus Drive -- at the Harborside Financial Center / Exchange Place: a transformer blew up, and took out a car -- woman driver was injured.

This caused a short power outage and Light Rail service has been stopped.

Anyone know more about this?