Atmos Energy continues to struggle with the fallout from a natural gas explosion in Dallas, Texas that tragically killed a 12-year-old girl last Friday.
2,800 Homes Could be Without Natural Gas Service for 3 Weeks
Early Thursday morning, the company announced that it would be shutting down the entire natural gas system to the area in the northwest section of the city where last week’s deadly explosion occurred.
The area extends from Walnut Hill to the north, Webb Chapel to the west, near Northwest Highway to the south and Lakemont Drive to the east.
About 2,800 homes are affected. It could be three weeks before natural gas service is restored to the area.
“Over the last 24 hours, as we continued to try and stabilize this system, we reached the conclusion…. from a performance standpoint we reached the conclusion late yesterday afternoon and early last evening that we would take the step of shutting down this system,” Atmos Mid-Tex Division President John Paris said during a media briefing on Thursday.
February 23rd Explosion Followed Other Natural Gas-Related Incidents
The northwest Dallas neighborhoods affected by the shut-off have been on edge since February 23rd, when a natural gas explosion destroyed a home in the 500 block of Espanola Drive and killed 12-year-old Linda Rogers.
Hundreds of people living near the blast site were evacuated on Friday. Though they were allowed to return home on Saturday, more than 90 residents of a nearby apartment building were evacuated on Sunday night because of a natural gas leak.
An additional 30 homes located in the 9800 and 9900 blocks of Bowman Boulevard and the 9900 block of Chireno Street were evacuated early Wednesday morning after Atmos Energy crews discovered yet another leak.
The National Transportation Safety Board – which has jurisdiction over pipeline explosions and accidents = is investigating the incident as well as two natural gas-fed house fires that had occurred in the days before the blast. Both of those fires broke out at houses along Durango Drive, directly behind the site of the fatal explosion.
Some people living in the area claim that they had reported the smell of natural gas to Atmos Energy in the period leading up to the February 23rd explosion. Others complained that their natural gas bills had recently skyrocketed for unexplained reasons.
Atmos to Replace Aging Steel Pipelines with “State-of-the-Art” PVC Pipe
Atmos Energy, the largest natural gas distributor in the United States, says that crews will be working around the clock to replace old, rigid steel pipelines in the area.
“Older steel pipe that is deteriorating… apparently it appears preliminarily because of a formation shift brought about by heavy rains, will be replaced by state-of-the-art, new, PVC-type pipe that is more forgiving in situations like this where there is movement,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, the county’s top administrator, said during yesterday’s briefing.
According to Jenkins, one line alone had more than two-dozen leaks.
Atmos Energy has promised to compensate residents who choose to stay in hotels or incur other expenses during the natural gas disruption.
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