# GULF SOUTH PIPELINE COMPANY, LP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2016-03-18

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 20160026  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 2016-03-18  
**Published:** 2016-03-28

Gas transmission and gathering incident in HEIDELBERG, JASPER County, MS. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 9825 NATURAL GAS released, $7,800 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.

## Document text

Gas transmission and gathering incident in HEIDELBERG, JASPER County, MS. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 9825 NATURAL GAS released, $7,800 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: 20160026.

Operator ID: 31728.

Reported incident date: 3/18/2016 5:32.

Location detail: 41.189

Cause detail: LIGHTNING

Cause detail: LIGHTNING FROM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH THE AREA STRUCK THE GENERATOR TRANSFER SWITCH. THE GENERATOR COULD NOT START UPON LOSS OF POWER TO THE STATION. ESD ACTIVATED RESULTING IN THE STATION BLOWING DOWN THROUGH THE BLOW DOWN STACK/SILENCER. DISCHARGE VALVE DID NOT FULLY SEAT RESULTING IN GAS LOSS THROUGH THE BLOW DOWN SYSTEM.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — LIGHTNING.

PHMSA indexed costs: $25,936 reported total cost, $22,622.915 in 1984 dollars, $33,184.128 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: <https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge/files/2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8?download=true&filename=Gas%20Transmission%20%26%20Gathering%20Incident%20Data%20-%20January%202010%20to%20present.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `5490e3f6a2f864d71bb2c79e096e51b9714b158542e808763b648ef6d59c2600`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-26T17:09:04.754Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-f154a10e12835eee083307d8`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "recordKind": "pipeline_incident",
  "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering",
  "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering",
  "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present",
  "report": {
    "number": "20160026",
    "supplementalNumber": "17054",
    "type": "ORIGINAL FINAL",
    "receivedDate": "2016-03-28",
    "receivedDateRaw": "3/28/2016"
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "31728",
    "name": "GULF SOUTH PIPELINE COMPANY, LP"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2016-03-18",
    "dateRaw": "3/18/2016 5:32"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "HEIDELBERG",
    "county": "JASPER",
    "state": "MS",
    "postalCode": "39439",
    "latitude": 32.149328,
    "longitude": -88.842659,
    "type": "OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY",
    "details": {
      "DESIGNATED_NAME": "41.189"
    },
    "facilityName": "MS100-001"
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE",
    "details": {
      "CAUSE_DETAILS": "LIGHTNING",
      "NARRATIVE": "LIGHTNING FROM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH THE AREA STRUCK THE GENERATOR TRANSFER SWITCH. THE GENERATOR COULD NOT START UPON LOSS OF POWER TO THE STATION. ESD ACTIVATED RESULTING IN THE STATION BLOWING DOWN THROUGH THE BLOW DOWN STACK/SILENCER. DISCHARGE VALVE DID NOT FULLY SEAT RESULTING IN GAS LOSS THROUGH THE BLOW DOWN SYSTEM."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 0,
    "commodity": "NATURAL GAS",
    "release": "9825",
    "propertyDamage": 7800,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": 0,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": 1000,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": "NO",
    "explosion": "NO",
    "evacuated": 0,
    "raw": {
      "FATAL": "0",
      "INJURE": "0",
      "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "9825",
      "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "7800",
      "PRPTY": "25936"
    }
  },
  "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": 1213,
    "rowSha256": "7a831bbc2f90f0396cb043ef4f851e8ec5dfb57429d46e309700916c66ef8286"
  },
  "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": false,
      "serious": false
    },
    "standardizedCause": {
      "sevenCategory": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE",
      "sevenSubcategory": "LIGHTNING",
      "eightCategory": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE",
      "eightSubcategory": "LIGHTNING"
    },
    "costs": {
      "reported": 25936,
      "in1984Dollars": 22622.914850158097,
      "currentYearDollars": 33184.12798676785
    },
    "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": 777,
      "rowSha256": "c1e71b762533ad9acb6a146fb69e7ee74ba4ee326fc787b5a5bdadc753b054cb"
    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "GULF SOUTH PIPELINE COMPANY, LP"
}
```