Natural gas issue affecting 1,600 homes

WESTERLY, R.I. (WPRI/AP) - National Grid says technicians are continuing to work on a natural gas outage in Westerly and that some restorations will be made overnight Thursday into Friday morning.

70 technicians will be working through the overnight hours to turn gas back on, and starting at 5 a.m. Friday 200 technicians will again be going door to door to continue making restorations.

Main Street and Canal Street are among the areas affected. Not only are those streets filled with homeowners, but businesses are also impacted by the issue.

"It’s going to be devastating to be without heat or power for this holiday season. It’s our crunch, time," said Molly Silva, a business owner.

If no one is home at the time, police officers along with a locksmith have been entering homes to shut the valves off.

"Thank God no snow, no frost, no freezing temperatures yet. We just hope for the best. Hopefully we can get some things going for Christmas. I have a meal to prepare, hopefully we are good to go by then," said Westerly resident Mallory Carpenter.

Graves said the company hopes to relight pilots for all customers over the course of Friday and Saturday. Customers have been without gas since Wednesday when the company detected air in the distribution system.

Officials said this is not an easy fix, and expect the process at least a day or so. Right now, no homes are in danger.

National Grid is asking that anyone in that area who does not have natural gas to please call 1-800-640-1595.

Emergency shelter available for affected families

Due to the natural gas service interruption in parts of Westerly, the Westerly Police Department and the American Red Cross opened an emergency overnight shelter at 6:00 p.m. Thursday. 

The Shelter, at the Westerly Senior Center, 39 State Street, will provide a meal and overnight accommodations for those families affected by the gas service interruption.