CenterPoint crew repairs punctured gas line in Abbeville Tuesday evening

The smell of gas that took over downtown Abbeville Tuesday evening originated from punctured line on the west side of the Vermilion River.
CenterPoint Energy received gas leak call at 5:22 p.m. on the 100 block of Henry Street in Abbeville.
“We had a service tech on scene within 15 minutes,” said Lindy Broussard, area manager for CenterPoint Energy. “We secured the line by 7:47 p.m.”
“We always make sure that we are securing the line in the safest manner possible. Following all of our procedures, that is how long it took us to dig and secure the blowing line.”
Workers with CenterPoint remained on the scene until after 11 p.m.
Broussard said digging in the area led to the broken line.
“A contracting company was doing some excavating and they punctured one of our gas lines,” Broussard said.
There were no reports of anyone suffering adverse effects of the gas leak. Emergency services were on standby.
“The police department received the call and contacted CenterPoint,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said. “The fire department was also notified and was on standby in case anything happened.”
Broussard said there were no issues during the repairs.
“We work closely with emergency services that are on the scene,” Broussard said. “We did not have any problems.”
Location and direction of the wind created the most noticeable effect of the incident.
“Because of where the damage happened and with a south wind,” Broussard explained, “it was blowing the gas smell right across downtown.”
CenterPoint did receive multiple calls of gas leak smells Tuesday evening and into that night. Broussard said each call is taken accordingly, even if it turned out the smell did come from the Henry Street leak.
“We handled those calls independently of that (Henry Street) leak,” Broussard said. “We handle each call as if it’s own leak. We will not just take for granted that what a caller is smelling is coming from the gas leak that we know about.
“We go do a full investigation at each call that we receive.”