Zachary residents evacuated after emergency valve at natural gas station fails to operate properly

By Advocate staff report

East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office deputies evacuated 10 homes near Zachary late Saturday after an emergency valve failed to operate properly following a lightning strike.

The incident caused no injuries, and the evacuated families were allowed to return to their homes after 30 minutes, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. L.T. Rice.

Just after 10 p.m., police in Baker and Zachary began receiving calls from people who heard a loud noise near the intersection of Plank Road and Lower Zachary Road, according to Trooper Michael Jewell of State Police Troop A.

Officials searched for the source of the noise until just before 11 p.m., Jewell said.

Ultimately, it was determined that the noise people heard was lightning striking a Florida Natural Gas pump station, said Trooper Doug Peters, also of Troop A.

One of a series of valves designed to stop the flow of gas in such an emergency failed to function properly, Peters said.

Florida Natural Gas workers arrived on the scene and shut the valve manually, Peters said.

He did not know when the valve was closed, but said it was "very quickly."

A small amount of natural gas was emitted into the atmosphere, he said.

The 10 homes were evacuated as a precaution, although the danger was minimal, Rice said.

Officials from Florida Natural Gas could not be reached for comment.

http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?StoryID=11237

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 28, 2000

Answers

Thanks, Carl. After following the Forum that Houston Chronicle article has made me very uneasy. Feel like I'm living in that Arrowsmith lyric about "tapdancing on a land mine" down here in Harris County.

-- mike in houston (mmorris67@hotmail.com), February 28, 2000.