[ad_1]
Latest
Updated on September 15, 2018 3:09 PM EDT
LAWRENCE, Mass. – Public service employees continued to go door-to-door in thousands of homes in the Merrimack Valley on Saturday, checking the gas valves two days after a series of explosions and fires, reported CBS Boston.
On Friday, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker declared the state of emergency in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. This allowed the Ministry of Public Utilities to replace Columbia Gas with Eversource as a leader in recovery efforts.
A new gas leak was reported to Lawrence on Saturday morning after a smell of gas detected. The leak was later described as "routine" and unrelated to previous explosions. According to Tracy Stefanowicz, communications manager at Columbia Gas, Massachusetts, the building was in an evacuation zone following previous explosions. The building was already empty when the gas leak was discovered.
A series of gas explosions killed a teenager Thursday, injured about 25 others, damaged dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of people from Lawrence, North Andover and Andover.
Eversource said Friday it would be weeks, not days, to completely restore gas service in the region.
More than 100 gas technicians were deployed throughout the night and Saturday to make sure every home is safe. No one in the area should turn on his gas unless the crew turns it on.
Even after the residents return and their electricity is restored, the gas service will not be activated until the technicians can inspect each connection in each house.
Thousands of customers are without electricity in the area. National Grid said that electricity had been restored to 6-8% of customers in the Merrimack Valley. The company aims to restore electricity to the majority of customers on Saturday.
The Massachusetts authorities have warned against a scam aimed at those seeking to help people displaced by the natural gas explosions and fires that have rocked communities north of Boston. Local officials in Lawrence and Andover said residents reported receiving calls from people claiming to collect donations on behalf of a local firefighters' association for the disaster.
Lawrence officials said that people should instead bring essential items to the city's senior center and other places that have been set up to help the victims.
Andover officials said that anyone offering support or donations should send an email to AndoverCommunitySupportandoverma.us.
A team from Columbia Gas of Massachusetts works in a neighborhood evacuated following a series of gas explosions in Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States, on September 14, 2018.
BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
[ad_2]Source link
