An electrical fire underneath a manhole cover is believed to have caused a town centre explosion this morning.
Three roads remain taped off outside Barking Enterprise Centre while workmen carry out rewiring.
Witnesses say they heard a “huge bang” in George Street at 10.15am.
Natalie Savage, 46, said: “It made me jump – I didn’t know what it was.
“I saw two guys walking across George Street and as they went to get in the road there was a huge bang and they jumped. It just came out of the ground – the smoke came up out of the ground.”
Florin Maxim, 32, was stood outside Barking Enterprise Centre in Cambridge Road, Barking, with her seven-month-old daughter Jessica Dobrea at the time.
“There was one explosion and a lot of smoke,” she said. “I was a little scared.”
Firefighters have closed off George Street, Linton Road and Cambridge Road westbound while the rewiring is carried out.
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