ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A gas outage in St. Johns County left businesses closed and homeowners without hot water and working stovetops since Monday.
The gas company, TECO Energy, said Tuesday about 1,500 customers have been affected, including 84 businesses, in the areas of Bent Creek, Julington Creek, Navigators Road, Julington Lakes, and Durbin.
“We mobilized additional personnel to assist and we are working as safely and quickly as possible,” said a spokesperson with TECO. “We were able to begin initial service restoration around 4 p.m. today, and will continue working this evening and tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day, residents told News4JAX they didn’t know when their gas will be back on.
Crews went door to door on Tuesday to begin the repair process by first turning off meters individually, but residents are worried it is going to be a lengthy process.
Scott Forshey-Friedman is dealing with a gas outage in his house.
“For cooking, for bathing, there’s zero hot water,” he said.
He’s the president of the Celestina neighborhood HOA and said all 635 homes there use gas.
“Many people have families, small kids, and there are many that have medical conditions. And these are, you know, necessary utilities that we rely on every single day,” Forshey-Friedman said.
Resident Amanda Robben said it’s especially inconvenient this time of year.
“People are starting to have visitors come in for the holidays, and hot water is a necessity right now,” Robben said.
According to TECO Energy, the leak was caused by damage to a six-inch pipe buried 10 to 12 feet below ground on Longleaf Pine Parkway near the Grandholm Point subdivision.
A spokesperson for St. Johns County said the leak is within its Longleaf Pine Parkway project limits but not in an area that it is currently working on. TECO said it was working on a repair with the hope of having it fixed by Tuesday afternoon.
A Durbin Park Mellow Mushroom restaurant had a sign on its door Tuesday letting customers know it was closed due to the gas outage. A sign on a Burger King on Racetrack Road said it was only selling drinks and milkshakes.
To begin the restoration process, TECO workers have been going door-to-door to shut off each impacted meter individually. Then, the company said, someone will later come back to homes and businesses after pipeline repairs are done to perform safety checks before service can be turned back on. An adult must be home for those return visits and set times haven’t been given.
Forshey-Friedman said the hardest part is just the unknown of when they’re going to show up.
TECO said if customers aren’t home, it will leave a door tag with information on how to schedule an appointment.
Since people can’t cook, the Celestina neighborhood is having a food truck come to the neighborhood Tuesday night.
A spokesperson for TECO said, “We have distributed several communications to impacted customers. We are also updating our website when we have new information and we are responding to customer calls and social messages.”