Thursday afternoon's gas explosion that engulfed an entire building in flamed before it collapsed to the ground left Manhattan's East Village neighborhood and its residents reeling from the tragic event.
The NYFD just tweeted the following picture of the aftermath, taken early Friday morning as rain pelted the streets.
FDNY
The fire, which began around 3pm on 7th street and 2nd avenue, left 19 people injured, 4 critically. Two are missing, and dozens are without homes. Businesses were lost; the fire took out several restaurants including a sushi joint and a local haunt called Pomme Frites.
We reported yesterday that the FDNY dispatched more than "200 emergency responders arrived on the scene to battle the 7-alarm blaze."
"People were running and screaming," Shameen Noor, who works at a restaurant down the street, told Reuters. "There's a big fire on the roof and black smoke."
This is what the building looked like mid-blaze Thursday afternoon:
