OAKBORO — Following a widespread gas outage on Tuesday night that impacted over 3,000 customers in Stanly County, Piedmont Natural Gas announced on Thursday morning that repairs to the damaged pipeline in Oakboro have been completed, allowing service restoration to begin.
The full restoration process is currently expected to extend into Friday.
“Repairs to the damaged natural gas line and system tests are complete,” Piedmont Natural Gas announced in an official statement.
“Service restoration to individual properties is now underway. We have more than 80 technicians dispersed across Stanly Co. to conduct appliance and equipment relights throughout the day and into Friday. Remember that an adult over 18 must be present for our techs to enter the premises. Visit pngas.us/11 for the latest updates. We appreciate your continued patience.”
Per the company, multiple crews from around the state were on-site working on the repairs as they completed a series of procedures before placing the line back in service. With all the necessary tests finished, PNG has started relighting appliances and equipment — beginning with hospitals and schools — and will transition to affected neighborhoods.
The situation began on Tuesday evening when a natural gas transmission main line on Barbees Grove Road (near N.C. Highway 138) in Oakboro was accidentally damaged by a third-party contractor.
Following the outage that limited the ability to maintain heat in large buildings, Stanly County Schools closed Albemarle High, Albemarle Middle, Central, East Albemarle, Aquadale, Norwood, South Stanly Middle, South Stanly High and STEM Early College for students and staff.
All nine of those schools remained closed on Thursday.
Additionally, Stanly County Emergency Management and Stanly County Health and Human Services have collaborated to establish a temporary emergency shelter at Anderson Grove Baptist Church for residents impacted by the outage; anyone with questions regarding the shelter is advised to call 704-986-3700 for more information.