Gas line punctured in Abbeville for second time in two weeks

For the second time in two weeks, crews worked to repair a gas line punctured in Abbeville.
Contractors working to replace gas lines for CenterPoint Energy hit one Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. near the corner of South Main Street and West Lafayette Street.
The incident caused power and gas outages for several customers, including restaurants, in the blocks around the area. CenterPoint Energy asked the city electrical department to shut off electricity in the area of the highest concentration leaking natural gas.
“The electricity was restored around 9:30 p.m. (Wednesday) night,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said Thursday morning. “Repairs to the gas line at that time were still ongoing, but there was no longer any gas that was escaping.”
City employees, including those from the police and fire departments, were allowed to go home around 6:30 p.m. Members of the city’s electrical crew, as well as some from the street crew, remained on the scene until power was restored.
“It certainly turned into a serious situation,” Piazza said. “Once our fire department arrived on the scene, they established that it was more serious than the (contractor) initially reported.”
No evacuation was deemed necessary and no injuries have been reported.
“We certainly had several residences that were inconvenienced,” Piazza said, “as well as our local seafood restaurants that had to shutdown during the lunch hour and into the dinner hours.”
Councilman Brady Broussard Jr., whose District C includes the area, shared concerns for his constituents.
“I was concerned about the safety of citizens and businesses in the affected area of downtown District C,” Broussard said. “My concerns were also about our local restaurants in that area that would be negatively affected by this CenterPoint Energy (contractor) damage and repairs extending into Wednesday evening.”
A similar situation took place on Jan. 27, when the same contracting company punctured a line on South Henry Street. The company is replacing cast-iron gas lines for CenterPoint in the city. That work is expected to continue into the summer.
“This is very unfortunate that this is the second time in two weeks that this has occurred,” Piazza said. “We intend on addressing that problem.”
Beyond the repair to the streets, there are other issues that impact the city.
“We have several employees on overtime,” Piazza said.
Broussard thanked those city employees for their effort in the matter.
“I was very proud of the city’s response to the necessary shut down of parts of S. Main Street and West Lafayette Street,” Broussard said. “Public Works Director Clay Menard, Electrical Superintendent Stewart Head and his electrical crew and (Fire) Chief Jude Mire and the fire department were on site for many hours Wednesday until the threat was neutralized.”