GEORGETOWN, Texas - Atmos Energy confirms more than 40 homes and 60 businesses are still evacuated after a gas leak last month.
- Georgetown gas leak occurred February 20
- More than 40 homes and 60 businesses remain evacuated
- Slow ventilation of gas blamed on "unique" soil
The underground leak started on February 20 in the 500 block of River Bend, near Williams Drive. The area has "unique" soil that slowed down ventilation of the gas, which caused an accumulation of "residual gas."
David Hood and his wife were asked to evacuate their day care last Friday.
"At 3:30, they said, 'Unofficially, please have your parents come pick the children up,'" said Hood.
Since then they weren't sure how they would stay open, but earlier this week Hood was able secure two rooms at the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce with the help of some money provided by Atmos.
"We have a bunch of kid-friendly stuff, but we didn't have time to move all that in," said Hood.
About half of the kids' parents made other arrangements for childcare, but now the remaining families won't have to worry.
"It's a burden for them that they don't have to bear, at least for the short-term future," he added. "We hope Atmos fixes it and gets us back to normal as soon as possible."
Atmos Energy hasn't told Hood how long they can expect to be out of their business.
An Atmos Energy spokesperson issued the following statement to Spectrum News Thursday:
"The evacuation will remain in effect until we are confident it is safe to re-occupy the structures. We will provide updates and a timeframe for lifting the evacuations when possible."
Atmos crews are using vacuum units to pull residual gas out of the ground and excavation equipment to dig holes for ventilation of the gas.