One week later: Hundreds navigate life without gas service on Charleston's West Side - WCHS
One week later: Hundreds navigate life without gas service on Charleston's West Side | WCHS
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Friday, marked one week since gas service was knocked out on Charleston's West Side and left 1,100 people without heat, hot water or the ability to make a hot meal. Hundreds of employees are working on the streets, as of 4 p.m. Friday, 340 had service restored. There are still hundreds of families who can't cook or heat their homes.
Dawn Holland was one of hundreds still without natural gas.
"I turned the tap on but no hot water yet," Holland said.
She cooked on a hot plate or disposable buffet trays. Holland said she has a family member with disabilities and it's been difficult for everyone.
"It's too cold in the house and we've been eating out a lot and spending money that's not in the budget," Holland said.
Donated heaters are the only way she could heat her house. The extra cost of eating take out and electric added up quickly.
"It's been tough, just trying to figure out what's been going on day to day," Holland said.
Charleston Councilman Larry Moore was just one of many who have been driving around delivering supplies.
"We'll get through it. We're a strong community. We've been through the water crisis so this one...this one isn't anything. We'll get through it," Charleston West Side resident Simone Sims said.
Friday afternoon, volunteers at Mary C. Snow Elementary gave food bags to families. These bags should last three days.
"I've been doing this for almost 31 years now and I have just never seen people come together more in times of need and emergencies. These people are incredible," child nutrition director of Kanawha County Schools Diane Miller said.
United Way, West Virginia Health Right, and the DHHR's 2-1-1 hotline plan to continue offering services.
Mountaineer Gas Company said anyone with appliances or parts damaged due to the outage, will have these repaired or replaced at no cost. The company also asked customers to wait until gas employees or the plumbing companies working with Mountaineer Gas to find any damages.
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.