When historic flooding struck southwest Colorado, it damaged critical infrastructure, washed out roads and threatened natural gas service for thousands of customers. While the floodwaters created significant challenges, our employees from across the state mobilized to help keep communities safe, maintain reliable service and restore natural gas to affected customers.

The flooding, described as the largest in the Pagosa Springs area in 115 years, damaged another utility’s pipeline that supplies much of the natural gas serving the Pagosa Springs and Bayfield areas. The force of the San Juan River destroyed sections of infrastructure and left some locations accessible only by helicopter.

Our crews assessed the damage and took stock of the situation. With colder temperatures expected and repairs to the damaged pipeline likely to take weeks, maintaining service became an urgent priority.  

Black Hills Energy immediately activated emergency response plans and deployed employees, equipment and resources from across Colorado, as well as neighboring states. Compressed natural gas trailers that had already been strategically staged in the Pagosa Springs area were quickly brought online to support the system. Additional trailers and equipment arrived from Montrose, Palmer Lake, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Employees from Montrose, Delta, Glenwood Springs, La Junta, Castle Rock and other communities across the Colorado service territory dropped what they were doing and headed to southwest Colorado to help.

Crews worked through the height of the flooding, preparing injection sites and stabilizing the gas system. Within days, four injection sites were operating, helping maintain service for nearly 5,000 customers. A fifth site soon followed.

"I want to thank all our crews and supervisors who worked incredibly long hours and went without sleep so our 5,000 customers in the Pagosa Springs area could remain warm and safe," said Chris Downey, general manager for Colorado Gas. "Without their heroic efforts, the situation could have been far worse."

Thanks to those efforts, only a small number of customers near the San Juan River lost service despite the widespread damage. For those customers, restoring natural gas required more than simply turning service back on.

When natural gas service is interrupted, technicians must carefully inspect each home, confirm the system is sealed and safe, and relight appliances before service can be restored. It seems like a lot of time-consuming effort, but the process is detailed and thorough because safety is always our top priority.

"Safety comes first," said Sebastian, a gas supervisor from Castle Rock who traveled to assist with restoration efforts in Archuleta and La Plata counties.

Our technicians know how important it is to restore service as quickly as possible, but their first commitment is to the safety of our customers, communities and teammates. Senior Gas Technician Bill McCollough showed how important that commitment is during a restoration visit on Lake Road in Archuleta County.

As part of his inspection, McCollough applied a soap solution to check for leaks around a customer's meter. When small bubbles appeared at one fitting, indicating a minor leak, he immediately tightened the connection before completing the restoration process. He also took time to paint the meter to help prevent future corrosion.

Inside, the homeowner Laurie waited eagerly for her service to be restored. Just days before, she had been told service might be interrupted for as long as two weeks because of the extensive flood damage. With a gas stove, water heater and four gas heating units, the outage posed immediate challenges.  

"We were boiling water in the microwave and driving to a friend's home to shower," she said.

With the average temperature falling to the 30s at night, being without natural gas for an extended period was a real concern. She was thrilled when she got the call from our crew letting her know service would be restored much sooner than expected.

"I was very pleased with the communication," Laurie said. "It was excellent. I couldn't be more pleased."

No one can control the weather, but we’re glad that when events affect our customers we can step in and help out as quickly as possible.