Columbia Gas must do more as temps drop
For those whose lives have been turned upside down by the Merrimack Valley gas explosions, more challenges lay ahead as winter approaches. We must demand that their stories be heard and their needs met by our elected leaders.
In September, the Herald’s Alexi Cohan introduced readers to Yohanny Cespedes, a Lawrence mom with three small daughters. After the gas explosions, she and her family were left with no gas, which meant no heat or hot water. It forced her into a routine that began at 6 a.m. to start boiling water on a hot plate so she could bathe her three young children.
Cespedes has since found housing in a hotel in Salem, N.H. The family eats daily at restaurants, not an ideal situation for someone who was used to cooking and having choices.
“I’ve gained 10 pounds since this happened because I’m not cooking,” she said.
She also said that her children are getting restless in the hotel room. “The baby wakes everybody up in the morning. What I plan to do is to be here as little as possible,” Cespedes said.
Cespedes runs a small business out of her home, and driving into Lawrence for work and bringing her children has become time-consuming. “It used to take me 20 minutes to drive into Lawrence from my hotel, but today it took me 48 minutes because of traffic and many streets are closed,” said Cespedes.
Yohanny Cespedes and her children are out of imminent danger and she has heat and hot water and some financial assistance to buy food and other necessities. She does not have relief from the stress and anxiety brought on by her family’s tumultuous journey through this ordeal.
Neither does Dominga Ozorio, who lives in an apartment on Market Street in Lawrence, where she and her four children have been without gas for heating and cooking for weeks. Speaking in Spanish, Ozorio told Cohan that the arrival of cold weather is making life harder, and she has called Columbia Gas repeatedly to be placed in temporary heated housing.
“The cold has been strong,” she said. “On Monday, it was cold and today it’s going to be pretty cold, too. … I have this problem with the electricity, I can’t connect the space heaters around the whole house. The house gets really, really cold. And for me, I haven’t received any help.”
She feels ignored by “Columbia Gas because I’ve called and I’ve communicated and I’ve left messages telling them that I have kids with asthma.”
Ozorio said the cold has also been tough for her children. “It’s been uncomfortable for them because they aren’t used to something like this . ... I’m not even expecting a call from Columbia. What I would actually want to know is, what are they going to do? We are really cold, we’re uncomfortable. And I don’t even know when they are going to connect the gas again. They said it’s possible they will reconnect it on the 24th but I don’t believe it.”
Temperatures in Lawrence plunged to 35 degrees Thursday night and a freeze warning was issued by the National Weather Service. Margarita Brito, a 40-year resident of Lawrence awaiting alternative housing placement, said she has four space heaters in her home to try to escape the cold.
“They (Columbia Gas) haven’t done anything to help us. We’re waiting and waiting and nothing,” said Brito, adding, “I’m really cold and I have diabetes and high blood pressure and arthritis.”
As the Herald reported, the Columbia Gas call center has not kept up with the demand for alternative housing placement.
People are losing hope. Watching your child shiver will do that. We must keep the pressure on our political leaders and Columbia Gas to restore normalcy to these people as fast as possible. It’s getting colder.