MAGNOLIA, Texas – Several homes in the Magnolia area dealt with extremely cold temperatures after being without natural gas services for hours.
Many viewers reached out to KPRC 2 saying they had been without gas and heat since early Monday morning. Some residents were only able to warm their homes using fireplaces. Some said they still had power and were using space heaters but it wasn’t enough to warm their homes.
When KPRC 2 reporter Corley Peel reached out to energy and utility company EPCOR, they confirmed that approximately 100 homes in Indigo Ranch, High Meadows Ranch and other parts of Magnolia were without natural gas service due to low pressure in the main service line. A spokesperson for the company advised that this was a localized outage, not a natural gas supply issue.
“Our crews are working around the clock in the cold weather to pinpoint the exact cause of the outage and restore service as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said.
As of 1:45 p.m., EPCOR crews said they identified and corrected the low-pressure issue in the pipeline main. Regular service resumed a few hours later.
Peel was with Mark Schoppe as he saw the first glimmer of hope that his gas pressure was being restored. His burners on the stove are turned back on.
“We may be coming out of it now,” said Schoppe.
He said his family lost heat Monday morning. They got creative by opening a hot oven and turning on a large television to generate heat inside.
“We have it set to 68 because they said to try to lower your energy usage, but it is at 63 right now,” said Schoppe.
Some neighbors said their thermostat got down to 50 degrees. Many tried using space heaters but it still was not enough to stay warm.
Colin Scherer said he planned to lose power and water in the arctic storm-- but not gas.
“I turned the water off at the house and drained everything down so we didn’t have any busted pipes. I wired my house for a generator so I was ready for power to go out if needed,” said Scherer.
Before the arctic storm, Harry Bodie noticed new hardware near his house.
“About three days before the storm hit, they came out and put these two risers out. One has a gauge, one has a valve on it,” said Bodie.
It is unclear why EPCOR installed the equipment. EPCOR said they were not notified of any outages or issues before Monday.
Customers who are still having issues are urged to contact Customer Care at 1-800-838-0834 or email myepcorgas@epcor.com.