# METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT — Gas distribution — incident on 2018-10-15 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20180101 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2018-10-15 **Published:** 2018-11-09 Gas distribution incident in ELKHORN, DOUGLAS County, NE. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7.97 NATURAL GAS released, $8,000 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: not significant, not serious, not fire-first. ## Document text Gas distribution incident in ELKHORN, DOUGLAS County, NE. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7.97 NATURAL GAS released, $8,000 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: 20180101. Operator ID: 12390. Reported incident date: 10/15/2018 18:02. Location detail: 202 & HOPPER Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY Cause detail: LOCATING ISSUE Cause detail: FACILITY NOT MARKED DUE TO INCORRECT FACILITY RECORDS/MAPS Cause detail: ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018 AT 18:02 METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT (DISTRICT') RECEIVED NOTICE OF A 4 INCH GAS MAIN WHICH WAS STRUCK ON 202ND AND HOPPER ST. THE OMAHA FIRE DEPARTMENT HAD THE SCENE BLOCKED OFF DUE TO BLOWING GAS FROM THE STRUCK GAS MAIN. THE FIRE CAPTAIN TOLD US A CONTRACTOR HIT A GAS MAIN WHILE DIRECTIONAL BORING AND THE CORNER HOMES (20203 HOPPER & 3404 N 202ND ST.) WERE EVACUATED FOR SAFETY PRECAUTIONS. THE STRIKE WAS THE RESULT OF TWO FACTORS: THE LOCATE MARKS WERE OFF BECAUSE OF INACCURATE RECORDS THAT THE OPERATOR INHERITED FROM THE PREVIOUS OPERATOR OF THAT PORTION OF ITS GAS SYSTEM AND THE EXCAVATOR FAILED TO EXPOSE THE MAIN THROUGH HAND DIGGING PRIOR TO BORING AS THEY HAD AGREED TO DURING PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS WITH THE OPERATOR. AT 19:49 THE DISTRICT'S A-REP COORDINATOR ADVISED ME TO NOTIFY THE NEBRASKA STATE FIRE MARSHAL. THE DECISION WAS MADE AT THIS TIME TO OVER REPORT THAN TO UNDER REPORT. NRC TELEPHONIC REPORT NUMBER 1227562 WAS MADE AT 18:54. A 48-HOUR TELEPHONIC FOLLOW-UP REPORT WAS SUBMITTED ON 10/17/18 AT APPROXIMATELY 17:45. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious, not fire-first. PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE. PHMSA indexed costs: $16,124 reported total cost, $10,039.403 in 1984 dollars, $18,815.449 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: `a9b4ca55eeab9fefc4c1c3defea3ddb44fb5c492f9f6e4bc9b2ed658125b6a40` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-26T15:09:05.103Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-d431548f9f4a0ab9dc40851a` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_distribution", "datasetLabel": "Gas distribution", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20180101", "supplementalNumber": "31513", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2018-11-09", "receivedDateRaw": "11/9/2018" }, "operator": { "id": "12390", "name": "METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT" }, "incident": { "date": "2018-10-15", "dateRaw": "10/15/2018 18:02" }, "location": { "city": "ELKHORN", "county": "DOUGLAS", "state": "NE", "postalCode": "68022", "latitude": 41.289142, "longitude": -96.22908, "type": "UTILITY RIGHT-OF-WAY / EASEMENT", "details": { "LOCATION_STREET_ADDRESS": "202 & HOPPER" }, "facilityName": null }, "cause": { "category": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY", "ROOT_CAUSE_CATEGORY": "LOCATING ISSUE", "ROOT_CAUSE_TYPE": "FACILITY NOT MARKED DUE TO INCORRECT FACILITY RECORDS/MAPS", "NARRATIVE": "ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018 AT 18:02 METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT (DISTRICT') RECEIVED NOTICE OF A 4 INCH GAS MAIN WHICH WAS STRUCK ON 202ND AND HOPPER ST. THE OMAHA FIRE DEPARTMENT HAD THE SCENE BLOCKED OFF DUE TO BLOWING GAS FROM THE STRUCK GAS MAIN. THE FIRE CAPTAIN TOLD US A CONTRACTOR HIT A GAS MAIN WHILE DIRECTIONAL BORING AND THE CORNER HOMES (20203 HOPPER & 3404 N 202ND ST.) WERE EVACUATED FOR SAFETY PRECAUTIONS. THE STRIKE WAS THE RESULT OF TWO FACTORS: THE LOCATE MARKS WERE OFF BECAUSE OF INACCURATE RECORDS THAT THE OPERATOR INHERITED FROM THE PREVIOUS OPERATOR OF THAT PORTION OF ITS GAS SYSTEM AND THE EXCAVATOR FAILED TO EXPOSE THE MAIN THROUGH HAND DIGGING PRIOR TO BORING AS THEY HAD AGREED TO DURING PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS WITH THE OPERATOR. AT 19:49 THE DISTRICT'S A-REP COORDINATOR ADVISED ME TO NOTIFY THE NEBRASKA STATE FIRE MARSHAL. THE DECISION WAS MADE AT THIS TIME TO OVER REPORT THAN TO UNDER REPORT. NRC TELEPHONIC REPORT NUMBER 1227562 WAS MADE AT 18:54. A 48-HOUR TELEPHONIC FOLLOW-UP REPORT WAS SUBMITTED ON 10/17/18 AT APPROXIMATELY 17:45." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "7.97", "propertyDamage": 8000, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 3000, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 2, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "7.97", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "8000", "PRPTY": "16124" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "fba42a19-f78d-44c9-9a76-4bacfc15fba0", "archiveFilename": "Gas Distribution Incident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "89c21d2ea6f5cb8ff6daad6ac60160608671a7b49c218bf9f917bfb88a2ce5a1", "memberPath": "incident_gas_distribution_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "f97da00c5f09a1cb7702d38c8148331935f286596018e5f00d927cbd80da28d3", "rowNumber": 622, "rowSha256": "c8a7b71dda6eb9d536dbe9ba405804708795eb99a51b55ef1fb329e88a6dc9e4" }, "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": false, "significant": false, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE" }, "costs": { "reported": 16124, "in1984Dollars": 10039.402778474609, "currentYearDollars": 18815.44902892325 }, "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": "gd2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "gd2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 929, "rowSha256": "6874c99bda9cdfac5e8401380884e324fce3007e7a1e7fb602a64dd677988150" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT" } ```