Photos: Manhole explodes, metal cover lands on Somerville roof

A manhole in Somerville exploded in the early morning Thursday, causing its metal cover to shoot up into the air before landing on the roof of a three-story home.

Firefighters responded to the explosion at Cross Street and McGrath Highway around 4:30 a.m., according to Somerville police. They quickly noticed smoke coming from three other manholes.

Despite the fact that the family who lives in the home was at home when the explosion happened, police said no one was hurt.

However, the manhole cover did damage the roof. WCVB reported that the windows and front door of the home were also damaged.

Eversource said in a statement that the explosion was caused by a faulty underground cable. WCVB reported that, at one point, 1,500 people were without power because of the mishap.

“While investigating the cause of [Thursday] morning’s outage and manhole incident in Somerville, our crews assessing underground equipment in the area of Cross Street and McGrath Highway located damage along an underground cable indicating a fault,” the utilities company said in a statement. “We are currently making necessary repairs to that cable, and we are also installing an energy-release manhole cover at the site.”

The manhole was dislodged from the roof Thursday afternoon.

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