Six months later, gas disaster effects linger

March 10-- Mar. 10--On Saturday afternoon, executives from Columbia Gas held three open houses -- one in each community affected by the major gas disaster of Sept. 13 -- to discuss the beginning of the second phase of recovery. Meanwhile, emergency officials in Andover responded to a reported gaseous odor.

On the surface, much progress has been made; but residents and community leaders say the lingering anxiety, loose ends and physical reminders -- like myriad potholes and destroyed yards -- mean the Merrimack Valley's fight to return to normal is far from over.

Wednesday marks six months since an overpressurized gas line sparked some 80 fires and explosions across Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, killing an 18-year-old man and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. Six months later, gas service has been restored to 7,118 homes; only five residences and one business that chose to manage their own appliance replacements remain without. Columbia Gas has paid more than $95 million in claims to those affected and replaced 43.5 miles of underground pipeline.

"We're better off than we were six months ago, but six months ago everything was on fire," Mayor Daniel Rivera said Friday. "We're worse off than we were on (Sept.) 12."

'It changes you'

Since September, Columbia Gas has registered 24,874 claims from affected residents and business owners. Just over 24,000 of those, or 96 percent, have been closed, according to company briefings provided to local officials.

The reimbursement wasn't enough to quell the uneasiness felt by those living in the affected areas. For Kevin and Andrea O'Donnell of North Andover, every gas leak is a cause for alarm.

"Because of the disaster, you just kind of default to: another disaster. It's another catastrophe," Andrea said.

The couple went nearly three months without gas, living with a temporary electric water heater and without a stove or dryer. On a recent Sunday, Andrea said she couldn't place the nagging feeling that she'd forgotten something until she realized that for months, her routine was to use that day to take her clothes to the laundromat to dry.

"Do I come in my home every night and worry it's going to explode? No; but is it in the back of my mind? Absolutely," she said. "It changes you -- I think permanently."

Across Interstate 495, Denise Velez of South Lawrence said she's still fighting with Columbia Gas over claims she filed and over both her and her parents' heating units. She, her daughters, aged 12 and 14, and the girls' father, Tom Flood, lived in a Homewood Suites hotel in Andover for months, returning home just before Christmas; but Velez said the "little glow" of coming home was short-lived, as she quickly discovered problems she still had to fix.

Velez's old heater was replaced with baseboard heat that she said does not circulate properly, creating a sauna in her bedroom. Her parents, who live in the same building, were forced to use the water heater attached to their oil-fueled furnace while they waited for their gas-powered water heater to be replaced; but now the aging furnace is leaking water, and Columbia Gas won't replace it because it doesn't run on gas, according to Velez.

"Right now I'm just letting the phone ring because I'm tired," Velez said. "I'm tired of fighting and I'm tired of arguing and I'm tired of crying because that's what they're putting me through."

'Heartless'

Rivera, like leaders in Andover and North Andover, is still negotiating with Columbia Gas for reimbursement of city funds that paid for the initial disaster response and for an agreement that Columbia Gas will repave the roads torn up across the Merrimack Valley while pipelines were replaced. He described the "bureaucracy" of the company's response, through insurance claims adjusters and lawyers, as "heartless."

"I think there's a lot of loose ends that unfortunately and tragically are people's lives," Rivera said. "I don't think Columbia Gas fully understands that. ... This is a negotiation between a corporation that blew up a city and a community of people -- a community of people who have very little to begin with."

For its part, Columbia Gas remains steadfast in its claim that it is doing everything in its power to earn back the trust of its consumers. On May 1, Mark Kempic will take over as president of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts as Steve Bryant steps down from the role.

"I believe we are doing everything we possibly can to put customers back into the position they would have been if this didn't happen," Kempic said. "I would argue that we're past recovery and we're on to the phase of rebuilding trust."

Kempic said "the physical scars, so to speak, have healed" and said he's focused on earning trust; but across each affected community there are still repairs to be made, from the destroyed parks and fields that held trailers to the budget deficits the city and towns were forced to incur to pay for the response to the disaster. Andover estimated it spent a little over $2 million and North Andover approximately $3 million, mainly in overtime costs and contracted services. Rivera said Lawrence spent closer to $16 million, and said he anticipates the final cost, including the repair of city infrastructure and public space, to be near $55 million.

A waiting game

Starting later this month, Columbia Gas will begin calling the 900 remaining customers whose furnaces or boilers were repaired but not replaced and visiting their homes to determine what work still needs to be done. They'll also get to work repairing lawns and attempting to restore the look of the region to its former self.

"Anything that we damaged, we will be back to repair," Kempic said.

By mid-April, local contractors working on behalf of Columbia Gas will be a regular sight across the three affected communities once more. Local leaders like Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanagan said they're committed to making this "phase two" of restoration a proactive approach.

"That's the big difference. Phase one was in large part reactive -- phase two is going to be proactive," he said.

Former North Andover Town Manager Andrew Maylor, who still works for the town as a consultant to oversee the recovery, said that after months of scrambling to get residents back into their homes, the last three months have been a "waiting period to see what's next."

"In many ways, the healing had started sort of post-mid-December, and having Columbia return to sort of the scene of the disaster, even to do work that's necessary -- I wonder to a certain extent if it will rekindle emotions, some difficult emotions that residents and business owners had at the time," Maylor said.

"In many ways it seems like (it's been) six years, and in other ways, it seems like six days."

Rivera said his office is still calling residents to check in and make sure they're getting what they need. His biggest fear, he said, is leaving someone behind.

"I think it's a collective disorientation. Like we're just all a little off-kilter," he said.

When asked how long he expects that feeling will last, Rivera paused for a moment.

"A long time," he said, very quietly. "A long time."

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