After a Steam Pipe Explosion, Uncertainty

NEW YORK — A day after a steam pipe exploded beneath Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, showering the Flatiron district with asbestos-filled muck, blocks of the neighborhood remained cordoned off Friday, leaving residents and workers wondering how soon they would be allowed to return. No one was seriously injured in the explosion.

Joseph Esposito, the commissioner of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, said at a news conference Friday afternoon that the cleanup process would take days to complete. “Asbestos is a killer, so we have to be very careful with how we clean the buildings, clean the streets, and that’s what we’re doing right now,” he said.

According to Bob McGee, a spokesman for Con Edison, the utility company, crews the company hired would soon begin power-washing the exteriors of buildings, a first step toward their reopening. He said he did not know how long it would take to clean the affected buildings.

That response was unsatisfying for Renee Typaldos, who owns Merakia, a Greek steakhouse on West 21st Street. Typaldos, 66, said she had been unable to get into her restaurant since the explosion early Thursday and was forced to cancel more than 100 reservations for this weekend. She said she did not expect to serve customers again before the middle of next week.

“I’m freaked out,” she said. “We’re going to have to trash all the food.”

On Friday, police blocked traffic from entering a zone that stretched from West 19th Street to West 23rd Street between Broadway and Avenue of the Americas. Subways were again running through the area, but more than 20 bus routes were affected.

Police officers, some wearing protective masks, redirected pedestrians, many of whom stopped to take pictures of the scene. Several workers in white and blue protective suits were stationed near the crater left by the explosion, which still contained large chunks of the street and other debris.

Yellow signs and caution tape marked the borders of the closed-off area. A smaller core surrounding the site of the blast at 21st Street, designated the “hot zone,” was distinguished by a red sign and tape that warned of “dangerous hazardous material.”

Esposito said officials were also concerned that looming rainstorms could complicate containing the spread of asbestos. He said sandbags would be used to build a barricade near the crater to contain rainwater that might be contaminated. Repairing the crater will take “an extended period of time” because investigators still must determine what caused the pipe to burst, he said.

Although city health officials had declared that the air quality near the site was safe, some who encountered the massive plume Thursday remained concerned about its effects.

Connie Wang, 30, had been jogging on Fifth Avenue when, she recounted, “I just got ash all over me, inhaled a little bit of it, and got some in my eye, actually.”

Con Edison was advising people who were within a block or so of the blast site, at Fifth Avenue and 21st Street, to bag the clothes they were wearing and deliver them to the company for disposal. Wang was among the dozens of people dropping off clothing at one of the utility’s collection centers. She turned in her running outfit, which she said was her favorite, and filed a claim asking for about $200 in compensation.

“I guess it’s just weird because it’s one of those things that if you’re poisoned, you don’t know for decades, and an initial exposure is supposed to be fine, but it’s very concerning,” Wang said. “I’m someone who might have children. There’s people around here who are worried about exposing their kids and stuff.”

The 86-year-old pipe that burst was part of a network of underground mains that Con Edison uses to deliver steam to heat and cool buildings around the city. McGee said Friday that service had been restored to 11 of 27 buildings that lost steam.

He said that Con Edison was responsible for cleaning the neighborhood and that it had begun with the streets. The crews power-washing the buildings that had been splattered would filter the runoff to prevent the fine asbestos particles from flowing into the sewer system.

McGee said Con Edison’s financial assistance would cover the costs of finding accommodations during the cleanup.

Joyce Ho, who lives on Fifth Avenue, was among the residents yet to get back home. After sleeping at a friend’s house Thursday night, she asked for an escort from two police officers to her apartment, where she had hoped to retrieve her computer and some clothes. But the officers declined because her home was in the “hot zone,” she said. She planned to stay with a friend Friday night.

Ho, who renovates homes, said she was not too worried about potential exposure to asbestos.

“I live in New York,” she said. “It’s too late for that.” She added: “I know people who never smoke, never drink and still have cancer. You have to live your life.”