North Texas neighborhood without heat for 24 hours, Atmos says gas was cut off
ROWLETT - It's hard enough to face the frigid conditions right now, so imagine dealing with this freeze with no heat in your home.
In Rowlett, a new subdivision of residents are still without heat and are concerned about how they lost it.
Avery Bartlett and Madison Villarreal felt the shift Sunday afternoon.
"It was 68 in the house," said Villareal. "Got down to 48 last night."
"The biggest concern is the unknown," Avery said.
The couple owns one of 18 occupied houses in the Rowlett neighborhood known as the Villas of Long Branch.
As does Tony Bracciale. The heating thermostat in his house is going in the wrong direction.
There hasn't been gas to heat any home here for the past 24 hours. 24 frigid hours.
"I kept calling the emergency line, 'What is going on? Is it safe for us to be here,'" said Bracciale. "There were all kinds of questions going through my head."
Temiloluwa Ogunniran, her mother and grandmother layered up and cuddled up, enduring an overnight freeze in the home after Atmos Energy crews cut off gas to all homes in the area.
Atmos teams were seen Monday morning repairing a gas line a block away. That line malfunctioned, forcing a shutoff of home heating gas during the coldest night of the year.
"Yesterday, I had to shower in cold water because our water heater was not working anymore, and our gas stopped working," Ogunniran said. "This morning the faucets froze up,"
The mayor of Rowlett said the city has two warming centers for all residents.
Atmos now has a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) truck out to provide gas to heat the houses temporarily.
Bartlett and Villarreal want relief from the cold, but the homeowners also want reassurance this plan to offer heat will be safe.