A wave of sudden and inexplicable explosions, followed by evident vibrations in buildings, generated alarm today in New York, leading to dozens of reports to the authorities. The requests for intervention were concentrated in the area of Roosevelt Island, the narrow island in the East River of New York, located between the island of Manhattan and Queens.
The reports were received shortly before 6am on Tuesday 2 January, local time, corresponding to 12pm in Italy. Reporters indicated the area around the Roosevelt Island Bridge, a bridge that connects the island to other parts of the Big Apple, as a critical point. Firefighters said calls reported a series of small explosions near a building in the area, causing surrounding buildings to shake. The building in question is located at 580 Main Street, the main street on the Island.
Numerous emergency crews from the fire department and other US agencies arrived in the area to respond to reports and investigate the incident. At the moment there are no injuries or obvious damage reported, but the firefighters who responded reported feeling vibrations coming from the buildings. Furthermore, a blackout occurred in several buildings in the area, leading energy company technicians to intervene immediately.
New York firefighters, in a race against time to locate the source of the vibrations, also discovered a series of fires in maintenance manholes in the area. According to local residents, at least three loud bangs woke the community before dawn, followed by vibrations that even suggested an earthquake, although no earthquake was recorded.
In addition to residents of the island, reports have also come from people in the nearby neighborhood of Astoria, on the East River. Here too, many residents were awakened by a thunderous noise at dawn. One resident said: “I woke up because of the shaking. The walls were vibrating and you could hear the windows rattling.” Another resident testified: “We heard loud bangs and tremors. We were scared.”