2014 East Harlem gas explosion

On the morning of March 12, 2014, two five-story apartment buildings at 1644 and 1646 Park Avenue were completely leveled by a violent natural gas explosion. The force of the blast was so intense that it shattered windows in surrounding buildings and sent debris raining down onto the elevated Metro-North Railroad tracks nearby, forcing a total shutdown of rail service for hours. At the time of the collapse, the buildings housed a mix of residential apartments, a piano repair shop, and a storefront church, all of which were reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble within minutes.