Shifting soil linked to Regina gas explosion

REGINA — When Chris Keyes returned some borrowed tools to his friends’ house on Sunday, he smelled nothing amiss.

Three days later, Mark and Kathy Oldershaw’s Regina Beach house was but a mess and a memory. So was Keyes’s sailboat, parked in his friends’ backyard.

The Oldershaws’ home exploded Wednesday afternoon, the result of a natural gas leak.

Nobody was injured in the incident, but an 800- metre area of town in south- central Saskatchewan was evacuated and cordoned off as emergency responders worked to fight the blaze and SaskEnergy staff tried to determine the problem. A state of emergency was declared at 5 p. m.

On Thursday, two more leaks were detected within five blocks of the explosion site. SaskEnergy was repairing leaks late Thursday. The soil at Regina Beach appears to be an issue, because of heavy rainfall and flooding in recent years.

One resident reported natural gas was shut off for three days last week.

Mayor Cameron Hart said he knows of at least four natural gas leaks in town this fall. With land shifting, Hart said 2014 saw 70 water main breaks in the town that normally sees 20.

“There are some houses that are in real trouble” because of shifting soil, he added: One house has been condemned; another saw earth drop four feet from its foundation.

SaskEnergy said it would investigate to determine whether soil movement had impacted its pipeline system.

Twelve homes were reported damaged as a result of the explosion. The post office next door to the Oldershaws’ home was severely damaged, its roof and one wall reportedly blown out.

Keyes’s cottage is just down the block from his friends’ house. Aside from a couple of broken windows, he hasn’t noticed much damage to his home.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable we don’t have more damage, because our deck has a glass railing all across the front and I thought for sure that would be gone,” he said.

People who live blocks away from the site reported feeling the blast, as well as items breaking or falling out of place.

Hart didn’t know how many residents were displaced.