TEQUESTA GAS LEAK CAPPED…ROADS OPEN
Posted by zzz - Lorea Thomson on Friday, June 27th, 2014 at 9:34am.
Evacuees can return home. Gas leak has been contained. Roads open.
The Tequesta gas leak began yesterday when the Amerigas tank on Old Dixie Highway was filled. The tank held 30,000 gallons and was about 85 percent full. Fire rescue crews spent more than 12 hours trying to stop the leak and succeeded about after 5 a.m. when they replaced a valve.
According to fire rescue officials, on the Martin County side over 500 homes were asked to evacuate and on the Palm Beach County side the number was somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 because of the number of apartment complexes in the area.
First responders stated the tank was being filled when it began to leak and it was 85 percent when it began to leak. Emergency crews were trying to contain the leak with a process known as “flaring” in which they burn off some of the gas and then they were going to off load what gas they could into trucks. The process took several hours.
Thank you to all our emergency responders... no injuries reported!