Thousands without heat, hot water because of gas outage

HARALSON COUTY, Ga. — Natural gas is slowly coming back on for thousands of customers in west Georgia.

Many homes and businesses are dealing with no heat and no hot water.

Renee Durden was one of 3,000 natural gas customers who were cut off Wednesday.

Atlanta Gas and Light said it wasn’t a leak, but a valve on the pipeline that was left closed after a safety inspection.

Now, the natural gas is flowing again.

Gas was quickly restored for critical facilities like hospitals, nursing homes and schools.

However, it was restored too late for restaurants on Highway 27, which were forced to close business on what would have been a big Valentine’s Day dinner.

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Thankfully for homeowners, temperatures are unusually warm, staying around 60 degrees.

Without gas, even simple tasks like getting ready for work and getting three young daughters off to school were difficult for Durden.

“There’s no heat and there’s no water,” Durden said.

Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach followed along as crews went door to door restoring service. The relighting process involved checking the meter outside and getting inside to certain appliances.

Atlanta Gas and Light had more than 200 representatives, not only from AGL but contractors and workers from Southern company,who will work around the clock to get the community and customers relit.

The process could take through the weekend, and the company is still urging patience.

“We’re estimating between three to five days but part of that process does require our representatives to enter the home,” Parish said.

Cox Media Group