An underground explosion blew the covers off multiple manhole covers in downtown Salem on Tuesday 1/8. The incident took place near (and was audible at) our Salem real estate office (corner of Washington and Front), at the intersection of Front Street and Central Street.

Early thinking is that a transformer may have exploded. Shortly after the explosion, several buildings in the immediate proximity on both Front Street and Central Street were evacuated due to high carbon monoxide levels that were detected by the Salem fire department. A number of downtown streets were also closed in the hours after the incident. Fortunately, no one was injured, though one parked car was damaged. Many residents and businesses were unfortunately without power in the cold weather.

http://www.salemnews.com/local/x12778489/Manhole-covers-blow-off-in-Salem

http://salem.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/power-outage-reported-in-downtown-salem