UPDATE: City hall in Carlos remains open for people in need of warmth
CenterPoint crews are on scene and will begin work to reconnect gas when it arrives around 4 p.m. today. People will need to be home.
Additional information will be released as it becomes available.
— Alcohol is believed to be a contributing factor in a crash that caused a natural gas leak, leading to residences being evacuated as a precaution.
According to a press release from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 2:31 a.m. on Dec. 4, a vehicle driven by Samantha Jo Porter, 42, of Carlos, crashed and struck a natural gas overflow pipe on the east side of the 4800 block of County Road 42 NE in Alexandria Township.
Reporting parties advised dispatch they could hear the natural gas leak from their residences, the press release reads.
Due to the gas leak being “very significant,” residences around the area began to be evacuated as a precaution, and power around the area was also shut off, the press release reads.
Porter was arrested at the scene, the press release reads.
The incident in causing significant traffic delays in the area due to roads being closed for an extended period of time, the press release reads. County Road 42 and County Road 11, along with Old County Road 120 and E. Lake Carlos Drive NE will be closed, and traffic should avoid the area.
Assisting the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office were the Alexandria Fire Department, ALP, North Memorial Ambulance, A&A Towing and Centerpoint Energy.
This is still an active investigation.
In another press release, from CenterPoint Energy, it reads that the incident is expected to cause an outage for approximately 525 customers in the Carlos and Alexandria area.
“CenterPoint is assessing the damage to its system and is working with local officials and emergency first responders to make the area safe,” the press release reads. “The company is working to repair its infrastructure safely and as quickly as possible to minimize the number and duration of outages. Currently, the company expects that efforts to repair its system and restore affected customers could continue into tomorrow, Dec. 5.”
If area residents smell natural gas, they should leave immediately on foot, the press release reads. Once safely away from the area, they should report the possible natural gas leak to 911 and to CenterPoint at 800-296-9815.
Carlos Town Hall is open for anyone needing a warm place as crews work to contain the gas leak and restore service in the area. Anyone opting to use the town hall for warmth is asked to bring their own container of water, snacks, phone charger and perhaps a book to read or a deck of cards to pass the time.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
