PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — All northbound lanes of Florida's Turnpike are open again, after a gas leak involving a ruptured high-pressure service line diverted traffic for hours in southern Palm Beach County.
Crews are still working to repair the leak, and are bleeding out the pressure on the line on the north side.
Tom Reyes with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue told WPTV: "It's an 18-inch gas main under hundreds of pounds of pressure, so it's a lot of gas coming through in a very small area. If somebody throws out a cigarette, if you have a static build up, if there's a lightning strike in the area, that could actually cause the gas to explode."
WATCH BELOW: Northbound lanes reopen on Florida's Turnpike in southern Palm Beach Co.
Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) troopers responded to the gas leak at mile marker 73 of the Turnpike North at around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, prompting lane closures.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said this is an "extended incident" and the line, which is buried about 7 feet underground, "will have to be shut down and bled off before the roadway can reopen or repairs can commence."
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue informed us that Energy Transfer was the gas company responding to the scene.
A representative for Energy Transfer provided the following statement:
"We did experience a third-party strike today on an 18” natural gas pipeline at approximately 10:30am local time which resulted in natural gas being release from the line. There were no injuries and the area is secure. We believe this occurred when a contractor working on a roadway improvement project for FDOT inadvertently struck our line, however, a thorough investigation will be conducted.
The pipeline section that was impacted was quickly isolated to stop the flow of natural gas and the remaining gas safely vented into the atmosphere, a standard industry practice. Air monitoring in place continues to show no impact on air quality. All applicable regulatory notifications were made. The emergency response team on site closed several lanes of traffic as a precautionary measure".
