Mobile home park left without gas, water after line break
Water service at park was also temporarily unavailable after crew accidentally struck a waterline
Acrew conducting an emergency natural gas shutoff this week at the Country Club Gardens Mobile Home Park due to a leak accidentally struck a waterline, according to New Mexico Gas Co. Sixteen residents of the south-side mobile home park off Airport Road said they awoke Thursday morning to find they had no gas or water service.
While water was restored Thursday afternoon, the residents said Friday, they had gone without gas service for more than 24 hours — with nighttime temperatures dropping below freezing — and weren’t certain when it would be restored.
They all declined to provide their names, citing fear of retaliation from the mobile home park’s managers.
“I woke up and there was no heater, no oven,” one woman said. “I hopped in the shower, around 8, 8:30, and there was no water either.”
“I’ve heard we have to wait another night, so not until Saturday morning,” added another woman, who said she has been a resident of the neighborhood for nearly a decade.
Tim Korte, a spokesman for New Mexico Gas Co., said the company performed an emergency shutoff of the community’s gas main just before 7:30 a.m. Thursday to address a leak. As a crew performed tests to determine the location of the leak around 8 a.m., he said, they struck and broke a water pipe.
“We did strike a water pipe when our guys were performing a bar test,” Korte said. “We replaced the pipe and had a plumber come in and make the repairs.”
Korte said any questions about repairs needed to be directed to the owners of the mobile home park, who were responsible for the leaking equipment.
“As of this morning we are waiting for the property owner to notify us that repairs are complete,” Korte said in an email. “So as of now we cannot say when service will be restored.”
Workers from C. Smith Construction Co. Inc., who were hired to do the line repairs, said they expected to be finished by the end of Friday.
Terry Tanner, a manager of County Club Gardens for the past four years, said he hoped to also get residents’ gas service turned on Friday
evening.
“I’d like it done tonight, but I can’t promise the inspectors will get here tonight,” he said.
The contractors were still working Friday afternoon to replace the three loose pipe fittings, and they needed inspections from both the state and the gas company before service would be restored, Tanner said.
“I don’t care about the cost; we got to get this done,” he said. “It’s too damn cold at night for my people.”
After the gas service is restored, Tanner said, he and the contractors will go to homes and relight pilot lights.
He said he and his wife, who live in the park, were affected. “I had to use our little space heater last night,” he said.
A sign on the management office’s door in English and Spanish said management was unsure when the gas would be restored and that residents should “be prepared with electric heaters to spend the night.”
Many of the residents said they took the advice to warm their homes.
One woman, who has lived in the park for decades, said she didn’t have an electric heater so she piled six comforters on her bed and wore two coats, gloves, boots and socks to keep warm.
“I’ve just been walking around all morning to stay warm,” she said. “You don’t know to be thankful for the little things until they’re gone.”