More than 3,000 customers without gas service and several schools closed due to widespread outage

Published 8:17 am Wednesday, December 14, 2022

By Chris Miller

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About 3,200 customers are without gas service and several schools will be closed Wednesday after a natural gas transmission main line was struck Tuesday night.

Stanly County Schools posted on Facebook Tuesday night that Albemarle High, Albemarle Middle, Central Elementary, East Albemarle Elementary, Aquadale Elementary, Norwood Elementary, South Stanly Middle, South Stanly High and STEM Early College would be closed Wednesday due to the “wide-spread gas outage.” Athletic events and after-school activities have also been canceled.

According to Zachary Vavricka, spokesperson for Piedmont Natural Gas, a third-party contractor struck the line on Barbees Grove Road near N.C. Highway 138 in Oakboro at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
“Our crews were dispatched to the scene and they’ve been working all night to repair the line,” Vavricka said. “We will be working throughout the day to restore that gas service.”
The news was first reported on Stanly County’s Twitter page at 8:38 p.m. Tuesday, noting that workers from PNG were already on site working to fix the problem.
The county’s Emergency Management staff are meeting with PNG officials and “hopefully we will know more soon,” according to a tweet posted at 8:03 a.m. Wednesday.
Stanly County will be setting up a warming shelter for those without heat.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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