Natural gas leak causes evacuations, road closures near Alexandria
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A large natural gas leak caused by a car crash early Thursday led to evacuations and road closures near Alexandria.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the gas leak was along County Road 42 on the northwest shore of Lake Le Homme Dieu, a few miles north of Alexandria.
The gas leak was stopped by late morning, but the incident also cut natural gas service to homes and businesses in the area on a frigid morning. CenterPoint Energy said its crews were working to restore service to about 525 customers in the area.
The utility urged affected customers to make plans to stay safe and warm through the day and possibly overnight. The company said its efforts to restore gas service could continue into Friday.
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Julie Anderson, emergency management officer for Douglas County, said the Carlos City Hall is open for anyone needing a warm place to stay. People are asked to bring their own drinking water, snacks and other supplies.
The gas leak and outage started when a suspected drunk driver crashed into a natural gas overflow pipe along County Road 42 at about 2:30 a.m.
“Reporting parties advised dispatch they could hear the natural gas leak from their residences,” the sheriff’s office said in an update at about 6:30 a.m.
“Due to the gas leak being a very significant leak, residences around the area began to be evacuated as a precaution. Power around the area was also shut off,” the sheriff’s office reported.
There were no reports of injuries.
Several roads in the area were closed to traffic, including County Road 42 between County Road 11 and the Interlachen Inn. The sheriff’s office said that’s expected to last through most of the morning.
Authorities are asking people to avoid the area.
The driver of the vehicle involved in the crash, a 42-year-old woman from Carlos, was arrested at the scene.
