Gas Leak in El Cerrito Hills – Shifting Ground Apparent Cause
A two-inch gas main was found to be cracked Saturday on Arbor Drive in the El Cerrito hills, caused apparently by earth movement, according to PG&E. Crews worked into the early hours Sunday to repair the line.
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A cracked two-inch main gas line was discovered on Arbor Drive in the El Cerrito hills Saturday, PG&E reported.
Responding to a report of an apparent gas leak, a gas service representative located the crack with a gas-detection device on Arbor at Don Carol Drive, said PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris.
No evacuations were reported.
"They believe the crack was formed due to earth movement," Morris said. The area is near the Hayward Fault and a zone of past massive slides.
A neighborhood resident said she was told by the crew that a weld broke. A technician who took air samples told her that the LEL reading ("lower explosive limit," a measure of flammable gas) at her home were negligible and 70 percent near the site of the leak.
Matthew Kelleher
2:12 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
I was wondering what that heavy equipment sound was very late in the AM (like 3 am). No notice or heads up by PGE and we live right around the corner.
Toni Mayer
2:30 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
We heard an explosion or two Friday or Saturday night and my husband saw a blue flash. We figured a transformer had shorted in the rain. Checked the Patch the next morning and found nothing. We didn't lose electricity, although friends in the Richmond Annex did. I don't believe our event was connected to this one.