Norwich rocked by controlled explosion after cop bomb disposal team blows up grenade in city centre

COPS carried out a controlled explosion on a hand grenade found in a Norwich river.

The blast was so powerful that it shook houses on a street next to the river, one resident said.

Joni Dorian, 23, told SunOnline that she was sat watching television in her home on Hellesdon Road, which runs alongside the River Wensum and is close to the city centre, when the whole house shook.

She said: “We were just watching telly and suddenly we all felt it.

“My friend happened to be driving past and he saw a bomb disposal unit and police cars.

“We were a little bit nervous (because of the bomb in London’s Parsons Green on Friday) but it’s Norwich and we couldn’t imagine it would be a target.”

She added that cops told her friend the grenade was likely from the Second World War.

Other locals described their terror when the blast went off.

Twitter user Quisha wrote: “My heart aches, I’m trying to stay calm it literally felt like it was in my back garden like it felt that close.

“I don’t know what’s happening. It literally shook our house.”

Norfolk Police tweeted: “We can confirm that reports of an explosion in #Norwich reported on social media was a controlled explosion of a found hand grenade.”