FENNVILLE, Mich. — Michigan Gas Utilities says it expects to have visited all customers' homes and businesses by the end of Sunday to restore natural gas service. By the end of Saturday, the utility says its crews will have visited 60% of homes and businesses affected by the outage.
Utility crews started working to restore natural gas to homes and businesses in Allegan County on Friday including in the Fennville, Saugatuck and Douglas areas.
Crews are manually turning on gas meters and relighting gas appliances and and they ask customers not to try to turn on their own service.
"That is unsafe. We are getting to each customer as quickly as possible," Michigan Gas Utilities said in a news release Saturday afternoon.
An estimated 5,200 customers of Michigan Gas Utilities were affected by the outage.
On Wednesday afternoon, a contractor working for the Michigan DNR "unintentionally struck a high-pressure gas pipeline" while working on a hydrology construction project near Fennville, according to a statement from the department. No injuries were reported.
The utility says its crews have focused on critical customers, including hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, wastewater treatment facilities and emergency service buildings.
"If no one is able to provide access when crews arrive, they will leave a tag on the door with a number to call and our crews will come back," the statement said.
On Friday, the City of Fennville, Michigan Gas Utilities and TC Energy — the natural gas company which maintains the transmission line — held a press conference at Fennville City Hall.
Here, City Administrator Katie Beemer detailed the three-phase process of the restoration.
Phase One (Completed)
- Repairing of the transmission line, a task completed by TC Energy
- Manually shutting off of gas meters at affected houses and businesses, a task completed by Michigan Gas Utilities and other out-of-state crews
Phase Two (Friday, from around 4:00pm to 7:00pm)
- Purging of the affected natural gas lines by replacing remaining gas and air with pressurized natural gas
Phase Three (Friday, beginning around 7:00pm)
- Manually turning on of gas meters at affected houses and businesses and relighting gas appliances, a task completed by Michigan Gas Utilities and other out-of-state crews
Phase Three of the restoration, according to Michigan Gas Utilities, will likely take "about two days."
"We're committed, obviously, to get it done as quickly as we can, but also as safely as we can," said Brendan Conway, a representative for MGU.
During the press conference, Conway said utility crews will work until midnight, prioritizing "critical customers," including hospitals and fire departments. They plan to resume the restoration process at 7:00am on Saturday.
Regarding late-night restoration efforts in residential areas, Conway said homeowners should "leave a light on" to indicate their desire for immediate service.
"We don't want to wake up the kids and get the dog barking," Conway said. "If you're okay with us coming back tomorrow, you can keep your lights off and we will [come back]."
"We're really grateful for all the workers who have joined us from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, even the Canadian workers, everyone who's come out to help us, we are really just very grateful," Beemer said.
For more on the natural gas outage, click here.
A shelter operated by the American Red Cross is currently available at Third Coast Community Church in Laketown Township.
For transportation assistance, call Allegan County Transportation at 269-673-4229, or the Interurban Transit Authority at 269-857-1418.
