JUNE 9, 2015
JORDAN TOWNSHIP, PA
Emergency crews evacuated homes for a time near the
Lycoming/Columbia County line because of a reported natural gas line explosion.
According to Columbia County EMA officials, there was a
gas rupture and leak around 9:30 p.m. on Wilson Road in Jordan Township near
Unityville. There was initially a fire, but it was put out.
An initial evacuation radius of three miles was reduced to
one and a half miles. About 130 people went to shelters set up at two nearby
fire stations.
Just before midnight, the evacuation order was lifted and
those residents were allowed to return to their homes.
There are no reports of any injuries.
“It almost sounded like an airplane crash,” said Craig Seely
of Unityville. “It just started roaring. It sounded kind of like about 500
freight trains running down the track at the same time. Windows started
rattling in the house. It shook the house.”
“It was very loud, kind of a roar, almost a little bit like
an explosion followed by a loud roar,” said Benton Borough EMA Coordinator Dan
Jankowski. “Actually my thought at the time was that it might have been a gas
line that is in that area.
There was some conjecture that it was a plane crash.
It was that loud.”
EMA officials said the gas was quickly shut off by Williams
Gas workers who were called to the scene.
Fire crews tell me gas leak is slowed. Evacuees at Benton
Fire building…no known injuries at this point. @WNEP
— Sarah Buynovsky WNEP (@SarahBuynovsky) June 10,
2015