UPDATE 1:00 AM: Gas leak shut! Pending testing homes for gas levels, residents will return to homes on Eastern Parkway shortly.
Just steps from my front door, Louisville Fire and LG&E have set up shop on a dual Water and Gas Main breaks. The second such incident in as many months. Fire officials told me that around 9:00 PM Thursday Night a water main ruptured (not the one that ruptured earlier this summer.) Shortly after a gas main broke and made the situation a lot worse. Residents on Eastern Parkway were immediately evacuated, and police lines blocked me from driving to my house.
I spent the 10 o’clock hour talking to residents and fire officials and awaiting the filming of WHAS’s live look in. The residents on Wainwright, my street that intersects Crittenden. neighborhood kids were Horseplaying around the caution tape. Yet the overwhelming feeling was aggravation at the interruption of it all. After the extensive water boil advisory the last things residents wanted was a gas leak issue.
Yet the most interesting part of the night involved our own Mayor Fisher walking down Crittenden Drive from the scene. The Mayor stopped and talked with Brooke Katz of WHAS and a young boy, but also took the time to talk with my roommates and I on our corner. While the mayor didn’t comment on the leak, he did praise the University of Louisville for its great job in opening new housing at the old Masterson’s property. He quickly walked away citing an early morning meeting. Although the mayor shed no new light on the situation just taking a moment to chat did make me feel more comfortable about the direction our city is heading.
Cleanup crews have secured the four-foot long break in the water main, but a small natural gas leak does still exist. No water boil advisory has been issued. One fireman told me that crews are likely to be done before tomorrow morning. Until then, Eastern is closed between Bradley and the beginning of the UofL overpass. In other news, the sounds of crews working is sure to keep me up tonight.
