Gas Disaster: As many as 60 gas explosions ignited 39 homes in suburban Boston yesterday afternoon in a disaster involving the local Columbia Gas company. Some homes blew up and crumpled.

An 18-year-old man died after a house exploded and the chimney fell on his car. At least 10 people with injuries were taken to hospitals.

Whole neighborhoods were evacuated. “It looked like Armageddon, it really did,” Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield told reporters. “There were billows of smoke coming from Lawrence behind me. I could see pillars of smoke in front of me from the town of Andover.”

The incidents occurred in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, north of Boston. For a time, firefighters, police, and other responders were scrambling from one location to the next as fires broke out.

Residents reported discovering the odor of gas or flames in their basements. Several houses had explosions.

Columbia Gas said it was working to relieve pressure in the system, indicating that the pressure had become too high. The company had announced that it would be upgrading gas lines in neighborhoods across the state, including the area where the explosions took place.

Stormy Weather:Hurricane Florence is hitting the Carolina coast this morning as a Category 1, bringing high winds and heavy rains. It’s just moving in on Wilmington, NC. The storm is expected to linger over the region, dumping some areas with as much as 40 inches of rain.

Already there have been 150 people calling for rescue in the riverfront city of New Bern, NC. “You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU,” the cityposted on Twitter.

The combination of rain and storm surge could produce devastating floods. The surge has already reached seven feet on Emerald Isle, NC.

While all that is happening, President Trump yesterday was busy trying to re-write the record about Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year, denying statistical reports about the number of people who died during and as a result of the storm damage.

Trump tweeted, “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000.”

The ultimate death toll was arrived at by a review of death certificates and a comparison to historical death rates in the same period of time. Trump does not appear to be upset by the number of deaths, only that it makes him look bad.

Trump said in his tweet, “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!”

NuYawk: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo beat actress Cynthia Nixon by a margin of 2-1 in yesterday’s primary, putting him on the path to a third term in Albany. Cuomo had 65 percent to Nixon’s 34.8.

While Cuomo celebrates, what should be sobering to him is that an upstart progressive with no political experience or debts to collect managed to take 35 percent of the vote from a lifelong politician.

Enough Already:Senate Democrats, desperate to block Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court, are asking the FBI to investigate a letter they received accusing the candidate of sexual misconduct — when he was in high school.

Resignation:Retired Adm. Bill McRaven, the architect of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, quietly resigned from the Defense Innovation Boardlast month just days after writing an opinion piece in the Washington Post condemning President Trump. The Innovation Board advises on the development and use of new technology.

McRaven had written, addressing the President,”Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.”

Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Democratic Cowboys:Fox News reports that Willie Nelson fans are upset that he’s headlining a rally for Democratic Texas Senate contender Beto O’Rourke. One fan wrote on Facebook, “I’ve always thought you were a patriot but you have jumped the shark my friend.” Other comments were nastier. Is it in any way possible that Willie’s fans don’t know he’s a complete stoner libertine in a cowboy hat? Oh, wait, these are fans who live in Texas.

-30-