Bizarre Green Flames Erupt Beneath Manhole Cover

Texas Tech University was forced to https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AKyoRg7ME/ close early for spring break on Wednesday, March 12, after an underground explosion near a substation caused "widespread power outages," according to https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15sTVsVgNJ/ university officials . A student at the university who goes by the X handle @rishi_cash captured footage of the green flames and smoke near Holden Hall. Fire officials https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1096068609211216&set=a.269738331844252 responded to the scene, initially investigating a possible gas leak, and discovered multiple manhole covers with active fire and smoke emanating from them. According to https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/2025/03/12/texas-tech-shares-alerts-on-engineering-key-evacuations-eoc-activation/82344359007/ local reports , an email sent to the campus community stated: "An explosion occurred in a tunnel, causing a fire. The fire spread, leading to outages on the Texas Tech campus. Electricity and gas were shut down across both the Texas Tech and Health Sciences Center campuses in Lubbock to prevent further spread. The fire was successfully extinguished Wednesday evening." On Thursday, university representatives https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19U5tUXqTB/ said power had been restored to parts of the campus. However, due to ongoing electricity and gas outages, Texas Tech University would remain https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CC5racoo9/y closed through Friday. No injuries were reported, according to https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1096068609211216&set=a.269738331844252 fire officials . There was no update on the cause of the explosion as of Thursday afternoon. (Footage by @rishi_cash/Storyful via Getty Images UGC)