Neighbors Impacted By Atmos Outage Helping Each Other
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - While a gas outage in Northwest Dallas continues to affect thousands of homes, a small percentage of those residents are returning to normal.
Atmos says 179 homes have gas service once again after they cut service a week ago to start replacing the lines.
That's the same neighborhood where a 12-year-old girl died in a house explosion last month.
For Daniel Jackson and his family, it was a much-anticipated homecoming.
"Friends and family are nice, but it's always nice to be home. You can only sleep on the couch for so long," Jackson says.
He says it's been a whirlwind few weeks, starting with a mandatory evacuation order after an explosion a block away killed Linda Rogers.
"Hectic. Very hectic," he says. "People calling. No answers. Nobody had anything to say. Everybody said, 'I don't know.' "
Then, a gas outage for him and nearly 3,000 of his neighbors. Jackson says he decided to invest in gas detectors while the neighborhood became a construction zone.
"A lot of activity. Trucks all hours of the night. Trailers. People working," he says.
Enrique Chavez is also back home with gas service.
"It's good. It feels good to be back home and sleep in your bed," he says.
But the homes across the street still do not have service. Neighbors are helping neighbors.
"I've had neighbors come by, 'Can we take a shower?' We gladly let them, because they're our friends."
And say they once again can sleep in their homes feeling comfortable... in more ways than one.
"I feel a lot better now that they went back a second time and put all new pipes in, and they're going to put new meters all the way from the alley to the house. They're going to take responsibility for that now, so I feel a lot better about it," Jackson says.
