# NORTHWEST PIPELINE LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-12-16 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20140006 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2013-12-16 **Published:** 2014-01-14 Gas transmission and gathering incident in MALAGA (WENATCHEE), CHELAN County, WA. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 155.42 NATURAL GAS released, $100,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. ## Document text Gas transmission and gathering incident in MALAGA (WENATCHEE), CHELAN County, WA. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 155.42 NATURAL GAS released, $100,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. Report number: 20140006. Operator ID: 13845. Reported incident date: 12/16/2013 17:00. Location detail: 131 Cause detail: HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS Cause detail: PRIOR TO THIS INCIDENT THERE WAS A FIRE THAT CLEARED THE AREA OF GROUND VEGETATION. HEAVY RAIN THEN CAUSED A FLASH FLOOD. THE PIPELINE WAS BEING INSPECTED AFTER A FLASH FLOOD EVENT. SEVERAL DENTS WERE DISCOVERED, IN A DRY WASH, WHILE INSPECTING THE PIPELINE. THE PIPE WAS UT INSPECTED IN A FEW AREAS SHOWED 0.185 WT PIPE. WHILE CLEANING THE PIPELINE FOR FURTHER INSPECTION A PIN HOLE LEAK WAS DISCOVERED. THE PIPELINE PRESSURE WAS LOWERED, AND STOPPLE BYPASS WAS COMPLETED TO REMOVE THE DAMAGED SECTION OF PIPELINE. APPROXIMATELY 27' OF PIPE WAS REPLACED. *NOTE: IN PART B #11 OF THIS FORM IT ASKS FOR THE DEPTH-OF-COVER. AFTER THE FLASH FLOOD, THE TOP OF THE PIPE WAS JUST BARELY VISIBLE. THE FORM DIDN'T ALLOW FOR A DEPTH-OF-COVER VALUE OF LESS THAN 1 INCH. TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION AS BEST WE COULD WE STATED THAT THE DEPTH-OF-COVER WAS 1 INCH. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS. PHMSA indexed costs: $250,847 reported total cost, $129,994.236 in 1984 dollars, $319,289.205 in current-year dollars. PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings. ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents` - SHA-256: `6e1bc4c640e9f35bdd02f9ecb7f6b0ac47b76c2c9fb7fce8afa8d83c7f9fe584` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-25T20:54:34.852Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-ab6f37966793b8761bd52fc8` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20140006", "supplementalNumber": "16431", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2014-01-14", "receivedDateRaw": "1/14/2014" }, "operator": { "id": "13845", "name": "NORTHWEST PIPELINE LLC" }, "incident": { "date": "2013-12-16", "dateRaw": "12/16/2013 17:00" }, "location": { "city": "MALAGA (WENATCHEE)", "county": "CHELAN", "state": "WA", "postalCode": "98828", "latitude": 47.31471771, "longitude": -120.1179936, "type": "PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "131" }, "facilityName": "WENATCHEE LATERAL" }, "cause": { "category": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS", "NARRATIVE": "PRIOR TO THIS INCIDENT THERE WAS A FIRE THAT CLEARED THE AREA OF GROUND VEGETATION. HEAVY RAIN THEN CAUSED A FLASH FLOOD. THE PIPELINE WAS BEING INSPECTED AFTER A FLASH FLOOD EVENT. SEVERAL DENTS WERE DISCOVERED, IN A DRY WASH, WHILE INSPECTING THE PIPELINE. THE PIPE WAS UT INSPECTED IN A FEW AREAS SHOWED 0.185 WT PIPE. WHILE CLEANING THE PIPELINE FOR FURTHER INSPECTION A PIN HOLE LEAK WAS DISCOVERED. THE PIPELINE PRESSURE WAS LOWERED, AND STOPPLE BYPASS WAS COMPLETED TO REMOVE THE DAMAGED SECTION OF PIPELINE. APPROXIMATELY 27' OF PIPE WAS REPLACED. *NOTE: IN PART B #11 OF THIS FORM IT ASKS FOR THE DEPTH-OF-COVER. AFTER THE FLASH FLOOD, THE TOP OF THE PIPE WAS JUST BARELY VISIBLE. THE FORM DIDN'T ALLOW FOR A DEPTH-OF-COVER VALUE OF LESS THAN 1 INCH. TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION AS BEST WE COULD WE STATED THAT THE DEPTH-OF-COVER WAS 1 INCH." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "155.42", "propertyDamage": 100000, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 150000, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "155.42", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "100000", "PRPTY": "250847" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8", "archiveFilename": "Gas Transmission & Gathering Incident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "fe0b136ca4b00ac987a8bc2e195098accf910d97512c5fc3b59e62d9da5f674e", "memberPath": "incident_gas_transmission_gathering_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "b435f2a25718cf54c54e00294e6788c4f9c6860e02fb86355e75d294c243c4dd", "rowNumber": 1532, "rowSha256": "d056d5c07508c9175ff23ef9edd7bbd897115a2bed3b306883418f00eb1b7165" }, "caveat": "Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.", "operatorReported": true, "finalAgencyFinding": false, "flaggedAnalysis": { "dataAsOf": "2026-07-31", "flags": { "fireFirst": null, "significant": true, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS", "eightCategory": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS" }, "costs": { "reported": 250847, "in1984Dollars": 129994.2356907527, "currentYearDollars": 319289.2053867101 }, "caveat": "PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.", "provenance": { "sourceUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/data_statistics/pipeline/PHMSA_Pipeline_Safety_Flagged_Incidents.zip", "landingPageUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files", "catalogUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Pipelines-and-Hazmat/Pipeline-Incident-Flagged-Files/qdme-9bbm", "retrievalMode": "official_live", "archivedAt": null, "archiveSha256": "317e6a3e16d60b9b677efe391dc40258b5dd7ead83fb8bea74cb553cedfbbdec", "workbook": "gtggungs2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "gtggungs2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 464, "rowSha256": "3ceaa0988763521e054fe01ee6ef8cf86781f34ccf0321e43162f463ef7d3926" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "NORTHWEST PIPELINE LLC" } ```