Is there an outage in my neighborhood?
Approximately 130 Columbia Gas of Maryland customers in and around the Lonaconing and Westernport areas are experiencing a natural gas outage due to recent severe flooding in western Maryland.
Flooding can damage natural gas lines and appliances, causing a safety hazard. To learn what to do with your natural gas service during flooding, please visit www.ColumbiaGasMD.com/flooding.
Westernport
In Westernport, Columbia Gas is replacing part of its natural gas system affected by the flooding that serves customers on parts of 1st Street, Allegany Street, Church Street, Main Street, Maryland Avenue, Oakview Drive and Washington Street. Work may take a few weeks to complete before gas service can be restored to those customers.
Lonaconing
Columbia Gas, in coordination with the broader county clean-up efforts across the Lonaconing area, is finalizing a plan and timetable for restoring service to impacted customers on Beechwood Street, Main Street and Old Beechwood Road.
Once the restoration process is underway in these areas, Columbia Gas crews will go door-to-door to each affected customer’s home or business to turn gas meters back on, perform safety checks, and relight natural gas appliances. Service restoration for all customers is expected to take several days.
To learn more about the service restoration process, please watch the See how we restore service after an outage video below.
For customers not home during the service restoration process, door hangers will be left informing them of the outage and requesting they call Columbia Gas at 1-888-460-4332 for a service technician to be dispatched to restore service to their homes.
We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank customers for their patience as our employees work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible.
What causes an outage?
Natural gas outages can occur when gas lines are damaged or when work is being done in your area. Should an outage occur, we’ll take the following steps to ensure your safety:
- Shut off service. Our crews will shut off gas service for all customers in the affected area.
- Complete repairs. We will make necessary repairs on the natural gas main and service lines.
- Restore service. We will visit each customer's home to perform a safety check and restore natural gas service.
Your safety is important to us
To ensure quick and safe restoration after an outage, please note the following:
- Our crew will need access into every impacted home or business to conduct safety checks and restore service.
- An adult (18 years or older) must be present to allow our employees to restore service. If you need to leave your home, please leave your contact information with a neighbor or on your door.
- Keep your porch light on until your gas service is back on. It helps our crews determine if your gas service is on or off from the road.
- Our employees and representatives carry a photo ID and will be happy to show it to you upon request.
- Think you smell natural gas? 1. STOP what you are doing. 2. LEAVE the area immediately. 3. CALL 911 then Columbia Gas from a safe location. Learn more about natural gas safety.
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See how we restore service after an outage
View Transcript
While you're using hot water, cooking and warming your home, we're working behind the scenes to provide you safe and reliable service. While we make every effort to minimize interruptions, they can happen and temporarily leave you without service. Sometimes these outages are planned and sometimes they're unplanned.
For planned work, we'll try to notify you in advance about outages, which are a necessary and important part of upgrading our system and general maintenance. During an unplanned outage, we are committed to keeping you informed. Please check your email, our website or social media accounts for updates. Remember to keep your contact information current so we can reach you.
Unfortunately, restoring service isn't as simple as flipping a switch. First, our technicians must go meter-to-meter to temporarily shut off service at each home or business. Then, we'll complete repairs and restore the flow of natural gas in our system. Next, our technicians will go door-to-door to restore service to each customer. All Columbia Gas employees and contractors wear a company-issued ID badge with their photo on it. We'll need clear access inside your home to perform a safety check of your natural gas appliances. We complete these inspections because of our commitment to safety, so do not attempt to restore natural gas service on your own. We'll continue to make repeated visits through the area until service is restored to all customers.
With any work, challenges may arise and we may not be able to restore service. If this happens, we'll notify you and explain the next steps. Please note, if one of your appliances fails our safety check, we cannot relight it. And, we cannot restore service to your home or business if we find a leak in your piping. If you're not home when we come to restore your service, we'll leave a tag behind prompting you to call us to schedule your safety inspection and service restoration as soon as possible. We want to keep you safe and warm, so we'll make every effort to restore your service as quickly as possible.
Contact us
If you have special needs or medical concerns regarding an outage, please contact us at 1-888-460-4332.