Gas Line Break In Glenwood Forces Evacuation
A Glenwood neighborhood was evacuated Monday morning after a construction worker digging dirt ruptured a 4-inch natural gas line at the site of the old Glenwood swimming pool near the intersection of Third and Elm Streets.
The gas line was ruptured shortly before 9 a.m. Law enforcement officers and fire / rescue personnel from Glenwood evacuated the neighborhood in a four-block radius with the help of mutual aid responders from Pacific Junction, Silver City, Oak Township and Mills County Emergency Management.
Neighborhood residents were forced to evacuate on foot - they were not allowed to drive motor vehicles to or from their homes while the gas was leaking. The gas leak could be heard and smelled from several blocks away.
A holding site for evacuated residents was established in the basement of Grace United Methodist Church while workers from Black Hills Energy worked to stop the leak and repair the break.
Gas and electricity service was temporarily shut off in the immediate and surrounding area of the gas line break. Residents in the evacuated area were allowed to return to their homes late Monday morning after Black Hills employees secured the leak.
Glenwood Emergency Management Director Larry Hurst said the construction worker was removing dirt from the site when the gas line was apparently scraped and severed. Hurst said he's of the understanding that a "locate" had been conducted to determine the location of utility lines on the property prior to dirt being dug and moved at the site. Black Hills Energy and Leick Construction employees were at the scene of the incident Monday afternoon assessing the situation as repairs to the line were being made.
No injuries were reported as a result of the incident, Hurst said.
"It was hot, it was humid, it could have been a lot worse," Hurst said. "We had one lady who had issues with some medicine, but nobody was hurt."
A media spokesman for Black Hills Energy was not immediately available Monday to answer questions about the incident.