Precautionary evacuations were underway in downtown Toledo, Ohio on Tuesday, where a sudden underground explosion resulted in heavy smoke near the 600 block of Madison Avenue.
While no injuries were reported, this incident is the latest in a series of booms that have occurred underground in the city over the last month.
Since the middle of June, five of the underground explosions have been reported, and authorities are working to determine if electrical pits below ground may be the source of the blasts. Tuesday’s blast resulted in evacuations due to heavy smoke in the area, which firefighters and onlookers observed rising from grates and other sewer entrances.
Reports of a lightning strike in the area had also caused concerns that the source of the explosion may have been as a result of a short in electrical wiring.
The Blaze reported that the “booms” have occurred for weeks, noting that officials with the city, as well as area power company Toledo Edison, had not replied to queries as of early on Wednesday. The earliest incident occurred on June 15, and each separate explosion has occurred on separate streets.
The electrical nature of these explosions appears in midst of speculation that an unrelated incident, which occurred on a Rhode Island beach, might have been related to a power cable buried in the sand nearby. However, no conclusive link to electrical problems has been offered in either location where the explosions have occurred.