National Grid Wraps Up Work, Thanks Community

National Grid natural gas began pumping through all the Gravesend pipelines on Saturday, after workers finished pumping out 50,000 gallons of water. It capped off a five-day ordeal for 1,200 households forced to go without hot water and other amenities.

The company will now begin refilling the 160 excavation sites they dug throughout the neighborhood.

On Sunday, they issued the following press release announcing the restoration of service, and thanking the community for their cooperation:

As of Saturday, all customers affected by the Gravesend natural gas outage have been contacted to have their appliances re-lit. All have been visited for re-lights, 93 percent have been restored, National Grid is coordinating around the customers’ schedules and working with plumbers on a few sites to safely restore the remaining locations.

The extensive restoration effort involved purging over 50,000 gallons of water from about four miles of gas main spanning an area of 46 blocks after a high-pressure water main leak sent thousands of gallons of water into the local gas system.

Over 300 crews have worked around-the-clock since the outage began. The crews have dug over 160 excavations to support the water pumping effort. Some of the excavations will remain open for a period in order for National Grid to monitor that additional pumping is not required. These excavations around the neighborhood are clearly marked, but National Grid urges residents to be extra aware of their surroundings and use caution, especially at night.

Once all repairs are permanent the excavations will be filled and roads and sidewalks will be restored and paved. In addition, over the next several weeks the company will continue to have trucks and crews in the area completing work to restore the gas system to normal operation.

Customers should call National Grid at 718-643-4050 if they have any questions or additional service needs.

“We can’t thank the community enough for their cooperation and appreciate their patience as we complete the remaining service re-lights,” said Robert DeMarinis, National Grid vice president, New York Gas. “We will continue to work in and with the community on the permanent restoration effort in the coming weeks.”