Propane Leak Prompts Evacuation of 3,000 People on Long Island
Propane seeping from a 30,000-gallon underground tank behind a department store in Suffolk County early Saturday led emergency officials to evacuate about 3,000 people from 900 homes within one mile of the leak, the authorities said.
Officials also closed the major roadways leading through the area, on Montauk Highway, in Shirley, N.Y., and Long Island Rail Road service in that region was temporarily suspended. The power to a grid serving southeastern Suffolk was also turned off as a precaution against ignition of the fumes.
By midday Saturday, no injuries had been reported, the officials said. “Propane is a very volatile substance that could explode,” said Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive. “It is also heavier than air, so it will settle in one’s home, and this is not the type of substance you want to be breathing.”
About 1:15 a.m. Saturday, the driver of a propane delivery truck noticed a plume of vapors rising from the ground as he pumped around 9,000 gallons of fuel into the tank behind the Kohl’s department store at Montauk Highway and William Floyd Parkway, officials said.
Police officers, Town of Brookhaven workers and members of several volunteer agencies, including the Mastic Fire Department, converged on the area and began to knock on doors to get people out.
Many residents “found comfort with friends and relatives,” Mr. Levy said. But about 200 people were taken to an emergency shelter at William Floyd High School, in Mastic Beach. There, in coordination with the American Red Cross and county social service agency workers, evacuees were provided with “medicine and food,” he added.
Several large trucks were brought in and spent Saturday extracting the remaining propane from the faulty tank, he said.
By Saturday evening, Mr. Levy’s office announced that the leak had been successfully contained by closing a valve on the tank. Earlier, he had said that possible causes of the leak were a malfunctioning valve or a cracked pipe.
Officials gave the evacuated residents permission to return about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, said Dan Aug, Mr. Levy’s spokesman. Mr. Aug said that tests of more than 100 homes showed propane levels “low enough that it’s safe now for everybody to return to their homes.”
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