So the area was reopened, then a month later blocked off again. That only lasted a day or two. Then today they closed off the area again late this afternoon. My mom just texted me that they heard a huge explosion. The area had been thankfully evacuated but my mom says there are five ambulances and almost 20 police cars there so I assume there may be injuries. ETA: From what they are hearing all of the injuries are from flying glass.





This is across the street:



Here are two photos showing the same area so you can get an idea of how much has been destroyed.



picture sharing

And They already knew there was an issue???

I hope everyone is safe.

It’s a natural well and so just capping it isn’t enough. There is another site about ten miles away that has been evacuated for two years because they are still trying to fix it.

Wow. I hope they don't need two years to fix this one.

quote:

Originally posted by dolmansaxlil:
It’s a natural well and so just capping it isn’t enough. There is another site about ten miles away that has been evacuated for two years because they are still trying to fix it.

Worse than a bombing - terrifying.
If capping it isn't enough, what is??
How DO they go about "fixing" it?

A horror story with a stinky impalpable villain.
Scary

How terrifying.

So more historical documents have come forward.

Two years before the explosion referenced above there was another explosion! At that time it was the fire station. Then they built the hall and library on the site and that went up. But the library was where all the historical records were kept. So that’s part of the issue - they have no records of the original well. It was a drilled well that was capped over a hundred years ago, apparently. The old timers in town have handed down stories about where the vent is and what happened, but because there are no records there’s lots of “there’s no way to know anything” happening on the part of the authorities.

My parents still have no hydro but they do have a generator so they are doing ok. The next door neighbours (who are in the evacuation zone) parked in my parents driveway and hopped the fence to grab some things because they aren’t letting people in. My parents have an old barn in the back yard (they are in the town but it’s an old farming community) and my dad just realized that the windows were blown out by the explosion. They are two blocks away.

Current thinking is they need to cap the well but gas is still leaking into the area so there is a risk of a second explosion. They are keeping the area under an evacuation order until the gas dissipates.