Natural Gas Outage Continues For Dozens In Lake Dallas

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LAKE DALLAS (CBS11) - Eighty-eight homes in a Lake Dallas mobile home community have been without gas since Friday morning when a city contracted crew clipped the line during an irrigation job to relieve flooding. Residents at the Lake Haven Estates have been furious ever since, accusing the city of taking the weekend off and dragging its feet.

"We're suffering," said resident Roberta Richardson. "We're not able to cook for our children. We're not able to bathe our children with warm water, and we have no heat in our homes."

Lake Dallas' Police Chief Nick Ristagno, who is also the City Manager, told CBS 11 that Atmos Energy was called out to the site immediately after the break. He said the gas company determined the line was owned by the mobile home lot. Ristagno said that by this time, it was late Friday, and too late to find a plumber to take a weekend job.

"It made me feel like it wasn't a priority," said Richardson. "Like 88 residents in this mobile home park… don't matter."

The city met Monday to come up with a plan and had plumbers surveying the site Monday afternoon. Work crews were on site Tuesday while CBS 11 crews were at the scene.

Ristagno said they plan to pressure check the gas lines Wednesday morning to search for leaks. If they don't find any, the gas will be turned back on.

But Richardson says, if the break caused a leak at her home, it becomes her responsibility.

"I've been given a guestimate of about $500 to $600," Richardson said.

It's money she said she doesn't have, especially the week before Christmas.

"And I can imagine if that's my situation… that's probably the situation for most of the residents here," said Richardson.

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