Cleveland East Ohio Gas explosion

The resulting gas leak, explosion and fires killed 131 people and destroyed a one-square-mile area on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.

In the ensuing explosion, manhole covers launched skyward as jets of fire erupted from depths of the sewer lines.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Samuel Gerber estimated that the initial death toll stood at 200; however, Gerber was quoted in newspaper wire stories stating the magnitude of the fire and the intense temperatures had the power to vaporize human flesh and bone, making an exact count impossible until weeks after the disaster.

[5] The toll could have been significantly higher had the event occurred after local schools had let out and working parents returned to their homes for the evening.

In all 225 persons were injured; over 700 people were left homeless, and seventy-nine homes, two factories, numerous cars, and miles of underground infrastructure were destroyed.

Until the disaster, above-ground low-pressure storage of natural gas, used as fuel for homes, office buildings, and factories, was a common sight in cities across the US.

The disaster plays a major role in Don Robertson's 1965 novel The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread and also in Sebastian Barry's novel On Canaan's Side published in 2011.