NORTH CAROLINA NATURAL GAS CORP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2002-02-04

Gas transmission and gathering incident in NEW BERN, CRAVEN County, NC. Reported cause: 9. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $141,252 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: 20020093.

Operator ID: 13580.

Reported incident date: 2/4/2002.

Cause detail: THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE

Cause detail: ON FEBRUARY 2, 2002 AT APPROXIMATELY 3:08PM, A CONTRACTOR WORKING FOR AN ENGINEER PERFORMING CONSULTING WORK FOR THE CITY OF NEW BERN WAS EXCAVATING AT A SITE JUST UPSTREAM OF NCNG'S NEW BERN TOWN BORDER STATION WHEN HE STRUCK AND RUPTURED THE 4-INCH STEEL TRANSMISSION LINE FEEDING THE STATION. IN A MATTER OF MINUTES AFTER THE INCIDENT HAD OCCURRED AND WAS ABLE TO ALERT NCNG EMERGENCY RESPONSE PERSONNEL IMMEDIATELY. EMERGENCY PERSONNEL ARRIVED AT THE SCENE WITHIN A MATTER OF 30 MINUTES AND WITH THE HELP OF LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL WERE ABLE TO ESTABILISH A SAFE PERIMETER AROUND THE INCIDENT. MEASURES WERE TAKEN SHORTLY THEREAFTER TO START CURTAILING CUSTOMERS AND MONITORING DISTRIBUTION PRESSURES AT LOW POINTS ON THE SYSTEM. DURING THE NIGHT, A MUELLER FITTING WAS INSTALLED AND A 2-INCH BYPASS INSTALLED AROUND THE DAMAGED LINE. LINE STOPPERS WERE DROPPED AND THE BLOWING GAS WAS FINALLY STOPPED AT APPROXIMATELY 1:00PM ON FEBRUARY 5, 2002. THE PROXIMITY OF THE DAMAGED SECTION TO THE TOWN BORDER STATION AND WETLAND AREA MADE IT DIFFICULT TO INSTALL THE REPAIR FITTINGS TO SEAL OFF THE BLOWING GAS SOONER. AT 3:15PM, A REPAIR CLAMP HAD BEEN INSTALLED AND RESTORATION OF SERVICE TO CURTAILED CUSTOMERS BEGAN AROUND 6:15PM. BY NOON ON FEBRUARY 6, 2002 SERVICE HAD BEEN RESTORED TO APPROXIMATELY 90% OF THE INTERRUPTED CUSTOMERS. IN TOTAL, SERVICE TO 190 COMMERICAL, 350 RESIDENTIAL, AND 4 INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS INSIDE THE NEW BERN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM HAD BEEN SHUT OFF IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE OPERATION OF THE REMAINING DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $141,252 reported total cost, $104,985.676 in 1984 dollars, $207,859.08 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.