urgh hit enter mutter mutter...here it is

This is the actual ThePlanet support forum description of the problem:

http://forums.theplanet.com.nyud.net:8080/index.php?showtopic=90185&pid=592269&st=0

Basically, ThePlanet's H1 datacenter in Houston experienced a transformer fire and a consequent electrical short in a large duct bank that caused an explosion big enough to upset three walls of the electrical vault. The damage was severe enough that the fire department required them to shut down the back-up generation.

Nobody seems to have been hurt, thankfully.