Toronto was rocked today by a series of explosions that took place around 4 o’clock in the morning in the north-central part of the city. Propane tanks in a propane depot started to blow one after the other. To make it clear: this is not a terrorist act.
Luckily, no one is hurt (as far as the news are at the moment). The entire perimeter is blocked and evacuated. That’s about 10,000 (ten thousand) people are forced out of their homes by Toronto Police and Fire departments. Major highways and streets are blocked (e.g. HWY401 between HWY400 and the Don Valley Parkway, Sheppard, Wilson, etc. see here). Some of the subway stations are also shut down (Downsview station, Wilson station and Yorkdale station). Poison control stuff is monitoring the area for lethal and poisonous gases, but everything is fine so far.
A terrifying video at YouTube, caught by one of the local residents: here.
The largest explosion is at 1:50 in the video.
I live in Eglinton and Islington area, which is quite a distance away from the ground zero (8-9 km away). I was working late last night and I heard the explosions very clearly. To my shame, I believed it was just thunder, although I did notice something strange about it. It was most probable that I head the large explosion at 1:50 in the video, because I did not hear a series of explosions, only a single one.
Update: It has now been about 14 or 15 hours since the evacuation took place. All the major roots are still closed. The HWY401 is no doubt the utmost important artery in Toronto, and it is closed. I had to drive around the city for a couple of reasons today, and boy may I just say: I can’t remember the traffic so bad since Moscow, where I used to live!
It took me 1 hour and 53 minutes to get from one end of the city to the other (that’s about 8km give or take). For comparison, it usually takes me about 15 minutes on a Sunday (using HWY401), about 30-40 minutes in heavy rush hour traffic (using HWY401). And even accounting for the fact that I had to use one of the avenues instead, I assume it would usually take about 30 minutes to do that without using HWY401 on a Sunday and may be an hour during rush hour.
That said, it is clear that the city is completely paralised. The commuter time is increased more than twice and that’s on a Sunday. I do not even want to start getting into estimates of what the situation would have been if it was a weekday…
Now the moral is: one again Torontonians are faced with a clear evidence of the fact that Toronto’s infrastructure, especially the public transit, are not even close to where they really should be! Disastrous traffic jams, all because citizens predominantly prefer personal automobiles to public transportation; at the other end, roads are in such bad condition (and I am not trying to mention the condition of the roads themselves, but rather the infrastructure induced by the roads) that once one piece falls out (like HWY401), everything goes to hell along with it.
The question of the public transportation is a very stubborn issue in Toronto. I do not blame Toronto for not having a decent transit system at the moment (I realise that the city took a huge step in growth far ahead of the transportation system, in addition to some other factors), but I do blame the City Hall for not taking any immediate action on the matter. I should post a separate blog post on this issue, since I think I might have a lot to say.
Update: A lot more information, pictures and videos can be found here, in another blog.
Update: Unfortunately, sad news. A 25-year veteran of Toronto Fire died at the scene today. Many condolences to the family, friends and colleagues. Great service will not be forgotten.