Roads closed, power out after gas leak near Patterson
An early-morning natural gas line rupture Sunday damaged West Marshall Road, closed other rural roads and cut gas and electric service to some customers of Pacific Gas & Electric and the Turlock Irrigation District.
According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, deputies heard what sounded like an explosion at 4:50 a.m. near the area of Ward Avenue and Elfers Road. “Deputies located the area just off the roadway and it appears to be a gas leak,” the department said in a Facebook post. “They have shut down the roadway with the assistance of the CHP and the fire department.”
Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Donald Cutler said there wasn’t any fiery blast. He compared the roar of the leaking gas from a 12- or 20-inch line to that of a jet engine.
The Sheriff’s Department posted photographs of badly damaged Marshall Road. Another PG&E spokesman, Denny Boyles, said, “The escape of gas moved some dirt around” and likely was responsible for some of the Marshall Road damage. He said that as in any case of a ruptured line that requires PG&E to dig, the utility will repair the road.
Shortly before 2 p.m., the Sheriff’s Department posted, “All of Ward Avenue has been reopened to normal traffic. West Marshall Road between Ward and Davis Road remains closed and will be for an extended period of time.”
PG&E assumed management of the scene, the department said, and all emergency crews left.
Before 11 a.m., PG&E had “secured the flow of gas,” Boyles said. The line was closed about 6 miles “upstream” from the rupture, but the gas in the pipe took some time to vent, Cutler said.
At about 3 p.m., Boyles said utility workers were reviewing the rupture and making repairs. About 25 PG&E customers initially were affected by the leak, he said, but using mobile gas, the utility has restored service to some of those. He did not have an estimate Sunday afternoon on when the remaining customers would have gas restored.
Because the leak occurred near TID’s Marshall substation south of Patterson, the substation was shut down while PG&E repaired its line, said district spokesman Calvin Curtin.
It’s not clear how large the TID outage was, but residents from several miles away reported having no power at 8:50 a.m. At noon, Patterson Police Services reported that TID had restored power to most residents in the Patterson area.
“There are no power issues expected in the next two days, but as a precautionary measure, the city has opened the Hammon Senior Center (1033 W. Las Palmas Ave.) for cooling,” Patterson police posted at 12:50 p.m. “It is open now and will remain open until this evening. It will possibly be open tomorrow as well depending on the need and power situation.”
Information on TID outages is at www.tid.org/power/outages. Boyles said PG&E does not have an online update about the leak, but service representatives are keeping customers informed.
This story was originally published June 5, 2016 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Roads closed, power out after gas leak near Patterson."