Some friends just told me that there was an explosion in a building in midtown and that the area is being evacuated. I checked good old NY1 and they confirm that a steam pipe explosion occurred underground at 370 Lexington Avenue. Subway service is disrupted on the 4-5-6 line and the shuttle between Grand Central and Times Square. Some people are reporting that there are injuries involved too.

Updates to come: if you’ve been in the area, please post in the comments.

Update: There are already some photos being posted on Flickr of the explosion and its aftermath. (Thanks for the tip, Cybele!) The images on NY1 right now are showing big plumes of steam and lots of mud belching up from the ground. They say that the mayor will be giving a press conference at 7:45 to give an update.

Update 2: ABC is reporting that the area surrounding the blast is still a “frozen zone”, meaning nobody can enter the area. There is a list of affected subway and bus service as well as street closures on the ABC site, reposted below:

Subway and Bus Service Affected

# 4 service suspended from 86th Street to Brooklyn Bridge in both directions
# 6 service is suspended from 59th Street to Brooklyn Bridge in both directions
# 5 service is rerouted on the 2 line at Nevins Street to 149th Street
# 7 service is bypassing Grand Central
# The Shuttle is suspended
# Bus service is affected on the east side.

Street Closures

# Third Avenue is closed from East 38th Street to East 42nd Street.
# Lexington Avenue is closed from East 57th Street to East 34th Street.
# There is no cross town traffic being allowed from East 56th Street to East 41st Street on Lexington Avenue.
# East 42nd Street is closed from Park Avenue to Third Avenue.
# Park Avenue is closed from East 54th Street to East 34th Street.

Please comment either here or in Josh’s post if you have more information or if you were at the scene.

Related posts:

1. HUGE manhole explosion in midtown
2. More on the Steam Explosion
3. Stranded in Midtown
4. Construction accident in East Village
5. NYC Subways Down