Atmos Energy will be conducting a planned outage of its natural gas service starting at noon on Thursday affecting 2,800 homes in the northwest Dallas area.
In what the company is calling a "truly extraordinary event" the affected neighborhoods will be out of service for 3-4 weeks.
The company says weather conditions over the past several weeks was the cause of the sudden and extreme leaks in several gas lines.
Starting Thursday at noon, for 4-5 hours, Atmos will begin shutting service down so that crews can begin to replace damaged equipment.
Affected homes are in the areas roughly bound by Walnut Hill to the north, Webb Chapel to the west, near Northwest Highway to the south and Lakemont Drive to the east.
Atmos says they know they have inconvenienced customers and they are dedicating crews to replace service line areas, gas meters and house piping at the expense of the company.
The company has struggled for nearly a week to get a handle on gas line issues in the northwest Dallas area. As of Tuesday, nearly 300 people remain out of their homes due to an evacuation order.
The order was given after an explosion destroyed a home and killed a girl on Friday, February 23.
In the days before that explosion, there was an explosion at another home, and a fire at a third home. All three homes are close to each other.
Atmos says they are deploying more than 120 crews to quickly complete this work. They also will be on hand to assist each homeowner as service is restored.
Should residents have any questions about the outage they can call 972-964-4191 or check their website for details. Information centers will be opening at 4 p.m. at the Bachman Recreation Center. A second location will be open at the Walnut Hill Center starting at 4 p.m. and Spanish language assistance will be available there.
Watch the full press conference below:
Dallas Fire Department handed out the following letter in both English and Spanish to residents in the affected neighborhoods:
English version:
English Atmos Letter by wfaachannel8 on Scribd
Spanish version:
Spanish Atmos Letter by wfaachannel8 on Scribd