Manhole cover explosion: Family walking in New York nearly hit by exploding manhole covers | Video

ByAlison Kosik, ABC News
Monday, April 21, 2025 8:36PM
Family walking in NY nearly hit by exploding manhole covers
A family walking in Poughkeepsie, New York was nearly hit by exploding manhole covers, video shows. They had just come from an Easter egg hunt.

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- There was a close call on a street in upstate New York Sunday.

A grandmother dodged an "exploding" manhole.

In Poughkeepsie, New York, a family was strolling down the sidewalk after an Easter egg hunt when suddenly a manhole exploded, sending concrete and debris flying into the air.

"I was like, 'oh my God, I don't know'; I didn't know where to go," Lisa Davis said.

The blast barely missed Davis and her two grandkids.

"I didn't know what to do except grab my grandson and run," Davis said.

Video shows the trio running.

SEE ALSO: Hacked Seattle crosswalks play fake Jeff Bezos messages about wealth tax

"I couldn't really run straight ahead of me to the corner because the manhole at the next corner blew up, too," Davis said.

At least three manholes exploded in the chain reaction.

Firefighters were there within minutes, and found high levels of gas in the craters left in the pavement.

Davis and her grandkids were not injured. But it wasn't until the fire department posted video of the explosion that she realized just how close it was.

"A foot, one foot of losing my family," she said.

While Davis says she's still worried about walking on the sidewalk, her 6-year-old grandson says he's doing just fine.

"I'm kind of scared, but I wasn't that scared," he said.