Leakage in a pipe carrying boiling hot water used in heating systems forced evacuation of a neighbourhood just east of downtown Oslo Tuesday night. The water leak was deemed extremely dangerous and it also set off a huge cloud of steam over the Norwegian capital.
Police cordoned off a large area in Oslo’s Grønland neighbourhood. All residents and merchants in the Grønland torg complex were evacuated.
The force of the water was sending geysers up through the asphalt. Police described them as potentially fatal. The water also carried a chemical odor and officials warned it would take time to contain the leak and the force of the water.
Police also asked all residents and workers who were not evacuated to remain indoors and close any open windows. In their written instructions to residents of the area they wrote that the hot water and steam, along with particles of asphalt, dirt and gravel made it unsafe to remain anywhere near the leak.
The city-owned utility Hafslund blamed the leak on a fracture in a hot water pipe that’s part of what’s called Hafslund’s fjernvarme system. The leak also left many homes and businesses without hot water and floor heating. Hafslund couldn’t say when heat and hot water would return.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
