I would appreciate your thoughts, concerns, and prayers for the entire city of Hutchinson, Kansas.

An explosion ripped through two businesses yesterday, and it was discovered an unknown source of gas is fueling the resulting fire.

Since that time, there has been another explosion of a mobile home, and perhaps 12 or so geysers of gas have been discovered in various parts of the city.

It is my own theory that gas storage caverns west of the city are the gas source, and probably this gas has migrated through fissures in the salt layer and the gas is beneath much of the city making it like a powder keg just waiting to go off. At one time several million gallons of propane were stored in the man-made, so it would be logical that there is a tremendous souce of fuel still there.

I may leave the city and not wait for rumored evacuations. (Some have already taken place.) To keep up on the latest you can use the following urls. http://www.hutchnews.com and http://wire.dailynews.net/News/APKansas.html

Thanks for your thoughts, concerns, and prayers on behalf of the entire city.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), January 18, 2001

Answers

What a frightening and dangerous situation! I wonder how many other areas around the country this could happen to...probably a great many. You certainly have my prayers. May God protect and keep you.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), January 18, 2001.

That's terrible! Randy & I will be praying for you and your family as well as the whole town. Stay safe, and let us know once things are under control.

-- Kristin, in Central Alabama (positivekharma@aol.com), January 18, 2001.

A press conference was broadcast a while ago and I feel much better about the situation.

The gas is indeed coming from a storage facility as I suspected last night. The good news for me is that it is following a fault line that runs through the city, so it doesn't errupt far from this area. I'm not real close to it.

Pressure in the storage cavern has already dropped by 100 pounds per square inch, but the initial pressure was not given, nor how many psi are still left in it. The cavern does contain 3.2 BILLION cubic feet, and will take about 3 days to empty. As the pressure drops so does the potential for more problems.

More good news is that the gas stored is natural gas instead of propane. That means it is lighter than air and will disipate when it reaches the open instead of seeking low levels.

Thanks for all of your concerns, thoughts, and prayers. I'm safe for the moment and have items by the door in case I have to leave which is becoming less likely as time passes.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), January 18, 2001.

Prayers for you and all those involved from me. Incredible. I hadn't heard, but will watch the news on teevee tonight to see if there's any update.

(btw, sometimes I just sort of generically pray for the Countryside Forum folks when I think of it. I know others do, too. We are a good group and all need lifting up from time to time. My $.02 is that these folks in Hutchinson really need our focus right now.)

Notforprint (GBM) please let us know how you are doing as soon as you can, should you decide to bug out. This sounds scary. Do you have a place to go figured out?

-- sheepish (WA) (rborgo@gte.net), January 18, 2001.

Also, aren't we experiencing record Natural Gas prices now? What will this supply loss mean economically? Have you heard anything about that?

-- sheepish (WA) (rborgo@gte.net), January 18, 2001.

Will be praying for you and the town. One thing we have learned from hurricane evacuations.If you must leave do it early.The traffic jams and short tempers can be unbievable if you wait too long.

-- JT in Florida (gone2seed@hotmail.com), January 18, 2001.

Please be careful, we'll be praying for you all. My, it sounds bad.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), January 18, 2001.

Hay buddy get your bug out bag in the car and if you need to come on down just ask enyone in town or at eny business where i live or work. your welcome. Bob in se. ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@hit.net), January 18, 2001.

Will be praying for you and the town. God bless and keep you.

-- Lena(NC) (breezex4@go.com), January 18, 2001.

Whoa, scary ---can you feel the prayers??? It's being done.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 18, 2001.

A quick update. I'm still at home and doing fine. There has been no new reports of gas leaks, i.e. spewing geysers for hours now and the city and news seems to be settling down. I can tell you it is a big sign of relief.

You asked if I have a place that I can go to, and the answer is yes. I have my farm just a short distance out of the city, however while I have a building I can stay in, I would have no heat in it. At the same time, my Coleman lantern and or kerosene lamps would provide quite a bit. In true survivalist fashion, I do have plenty of straw bales, and could always dig a hole in the ground with my tractor, insulate it well with straw, and use truck sideboards and other material to cover it with a roof. My daughter and husband live about 50 miles away, so that is an available and easy option as well. I have friends in Wichita where I could stay as well. Also offers from you good and kind folk.

I doubt the loss of the gas will affect supplies and prices very much. The 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas in the cavern will be pumped out and moved into distribution lines or just moved elsewhere. The majority of it won't be lost into the air.

Surely it is the hand of God that is keeping the rest of Hutchinson safe. Sometimes we just need a wake up call to bring us together. The newscasts report that the American Red Cross is doing a terrific job, and that the mood of the evacuees is really quite good. At this time it is unknown when they will be able to return home. Maybe in 2 or 3 days.

Thanks everyone, you make me proud to be a part of this family.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), January 18, 2001.

Just saw this and you can be sure that our prayers are added to yours. The Christian family that the Lord puts us in is a Blessing in times like these and always! God Bless you and keep you safe! From a new friend,

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 19, 2001.

Just read in our local newspaper (Olney Illinois) that a 68 yr. old former resident of Olney and his wife were critically injured when their trailer exploded. He was taken off ventilator this morning after his heart stopped. She's in hospital in critical condition. The man has a brother and other relatives in this area.

-- ruth in s.e.Illinois (bobtravous@email.com), January 19, 2001.