Boulders the size of fire hydrants rained down on the street, building windows as high as three stories high were blown out and smoke could be seen billowing up from the sidewalks.
That was the scary scene this afternoon on 72nd Street following a massive construction blast along the Second Avenue Subway line, officials said.
The FDNY, MTA and the Department of Buildings were on the scene checking for possible major structural damage to street, sidewalk and nearby buildings caused by the 12:45 blast.
A DOB inspector told The Post an initial search of the area had turned up no major structural damage to the surrounding buildings.
Hysterical witnesses described a shockwave the knocked people off their feet and a mushroom cloud of smoke and debris — including a hail of rocks that shattered the windows of an art gallery across the street.
“It’s like the blitz in London in World War II!” said Carol Cusa, who lives directly across the street from the blast zone and said she was thrown out of a kitchen chair in her fifth floor apartment.
Inside the Kolb Art Gallery at 260 East 72nd street, the shockwave knocked worker Marsha Kaufman to the ground, shattered three windows and filled the store with dust.
“Huge plumes of smoke and rock came shooting out of the hole across the street,” she said. “When they hit the windows we all froze. Nobody was hurt [in the store], but the noise was unbelievable.”