REGINA BEACH – Insulation, debris, damaged furniture, and even vehicles continue to litter a section of downtown Regina Beach.
On Thursday afternoon, about 40 homes remained without gas following a massive house explosion, which splintered one home and damaged a dozen others.
The explosion is being blamed on an underground natural gas leak.
“Stuff went out of the roof. It was like the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy sees all this stuff flying through the sky. I think that was the most frightening thing,” said Regina Beach resident Darlene Freitag.
A public meeting was held on Thursday afternoon to hear from Mayor Cameron Hart where residents voiced concerns regarding communication.
“We don’t have Internet or phone service. This morning we were told ‘well just go on Facebook’, but we don’t have Internet,” said Regina Beach resident Mike Park.
Thankfully, no one was seriously injured but now some residents are questioning their safety.
“These gas breaks and the shifting in the old infrastructure, yes it’s a concern,” said resident James Misfeldt. “Should we all just hightail it out of here? Or can we stay with reasonable safety?”
Just one day after the blast, SaskEnergy crews already had to repair another leak, just blocks away from the house explosion.
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SaskEnergy says workers have been at Regina Beach actively surveying for gas leaks since the heavy rains in the summer, which is causing the ground to shift. About 30 gas leaks have been detected, since July.
“This is a very rare occurrence. It’s obviously very serious. We’re thankful that no one was more seriously injured,” said David Burdeniuk with SaskEnergy. “We do feel that our system is safe, but we do ask for homeowners to call if they smell gas.”
If the owners of the house that exploded had been home, they might have smelled gas before the explosion happened: “We have a high amount of natural gas odorant that is placed as a safety feature in our pipelines. That odorant would have been overpowering inside that home.”
SaskEnergy is rolling out a long-term plan to replace some aging pipes with more flexible technology to better withstand the shifting ground.
However in the meantime, residents are trying to figure out how they’re going to get through the next few days.
“I got to find out if I’m going to have heat. If I don’t have heat, I’m going to have to get my water drained and put something in the drain system so it won’t freeze,” said Park.
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