A loud explosion rocked the Cass Corridor on Monday afternoon, about an hour after firefighters were called to investigate about a dozen missing manhole covers on the east side.
“It’s starting to go from manhole to manhole,” a firefighter told dispatchers.
Who are the scrappers? They are laid-off autoworkers, drug addicts, high school dropouts and others trying to get by.
In the past two years, thousands of sewer and manhole covers have been stolen, creating hazards for unsuspecting pedestrians, motorists and bicyclists. The cast iron lids fetch scofflaws between $10 and $25 at local scrap yards, police said.