FENNVILLE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Even though efforts to restore natural gas service to around 5,200 Michigan Gas Utilities customers in the Fennville, Saugatuck and Douglas areas continues, officials say an emergency shelter that opened overnight will now be closing.
The Emergency Management Department of the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office says the shelter at Third Coast Community Church is being shutdown as of 4:00 p.m. They say the decision follows the evaluation of available community resources such as hotels, the weather forecast, and a decrease in sheltering needs.
Utility crews, augmented by workers from Wisconsin and Minnesota, went house-to-house and business-to-business in shutting off service at their meters Thursday.
Friday, the Holland Aquatic Center announced that they are offering their facility for showers, free to any residents, during regular business hours. The Saugatuck/Douglas Convention and Business Bureau is encouraging local residents to buy gift cars to affected restaurants, reschedule reservations and events that were called off due to the gas leak, order take-out if possible, tip generously, and spread the word about eateries and other businesses who are open despite the lack of heat.
It all started around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday when a “major gas line leak” was reported in the area of 57th Street and 122nd Avenue, Roads were blocked off in the area, while it took crews about six hours to seal off the leak and shut off all natural gas that had been going into the damaged transmission line. It is believed that a third party, not affiliated with Michigan Gas Utilities or pipeline operator TC Energy, caused the damage to the line, although the circumstances that led to the break were not disclosed.
Utility officials now say that repairs to the damaged line should be complete Friday, and affected customers are asked to wait until crews return to their home or business to personally restore service and relight all natural gas appliances.
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