(ETH) – Residents of Tel Aviv in Israel recently reported the concrete surface outside their buildings was heating up and steam was coming out of the ground prompting evacuations to several buildings in the district.
Tests were conducted that revealed that the steam, which was as hot as 60°C (140°F), was water-based. Experts were called to the scene and did not detect any dangerous substances at the site or any risk to the buildings’ stability, and eventually ruled the source of the heat by the municipality to be “trapped energy” from an unknown source.
A witness explains: “I was afraid there was a power line in the area, and I asked a laborer to dig into the ground with a shovel. All of a sudden, steam came out. I imagined that it was probably a geyser. It appeared to me to be a geological incident – also because there haven’t been any problems with the electricity in the building.“
According to reports from local affiliates, The city said it would “continue to monitor the temperature of the ground, which is expected to take a long time to cool, and will continue to look into the causes of the unusual event.“
