Natural gas outage affects 3000 customers in west Georgia

HARALSON COUNTY, Ga. - Thousands of people without heat or hot water in parts of Haralson and Carroll Counties. Atlanta Gas Light said a natural gas outage is affecting about 3000 customers. The hospital, schools, businesses, and homes are affected.

Atlanta Gas Light said the problem was first discovered Tuesday night. Wednesday afternoon, officials still had not pinpointed the problem.

"We're still working to determine what happened to cause this outage and hopefully in the coming days we'll have information to share," said Mekka Parish with Atlanta Gas Light.

Wednesday, dozens of crews went door to door turning off the gas to homes and businesses. Once the problem is fixed, they will have to go back out to each customer, go inside the home or business, and turn the gas back on.

"It's re-lighting the pilot and any appliances, and we do an inspection, just to make sure there's no leak. It's another level of safety," said Parish.

It could be three to five days until surface if fully restored.

Wednesday night, numerous businesses in Bremen were closed. All the tables were empty at Chopsticks Chinese Cuisine on what would have normally been a very busy night.

"It would be busy because it is Valentine's Day. But we can't cook anything, everything runs on gas. It will hurt business," said Rusly Mulyadi with Chopsticks.

In Buchanan, Bob and Regina Patterson have a gas furnace and a gas stove. They were staying warm by the fire. Their little dog, Bailey, was wrapped in a sweater.

"We went down to Piggly Wiggly and bought TV dinners for the microwave. Four or five days is going to be tough," said Bob Patterson. 

Atlanta Gas Light said once gas can be turned back on, if no one is home when crews show up, they will leave a green card on the door handle. If customers have any questions, then can call the Customer Care line at 800-427-5463.