Plus numerous houses and cars destroyed, all in one methane pipeline explosion in
Beaumont, Kentucky in 1985.
The same company, today known as Spectra Energy, had another explosion
near Lancaster, Kentucky in 1986 that injured three people, two seriously,
evacuated 77, and destroyed more buildings and cars,
plus ripping 480 feet of pipe out of the ground.
Stu Beitler posted on GenDisasters 30 June 2010,
Beaumont, KY Gas Line Explosion, Apr 1985,
GAS LINE EXPLOSION RIPS KENTUCKY TOWN.
Beaumont, Ky. (AP) — A natural gas line explosion killed at
least five people, gouged a 20 foot deep crater and flattened six
buildings in a tiny community, igniting fires that were visible 20
miles away, authorities said. At least three other people were
seriously injured in the weekend blast that ripped up a section of
Kentucky’s Route 90 and devastated a mile-square area, according to
authorities.
Dick Brown, a spokesman for the state Department of Disaster and
Emergency Services, said two houses, three mobile homes and a
sawmill were destroyed in Marrowbone Hill, a settlement about a mile
east of Beaumont, whose population is 60. The blast site is 90 miles
south of Louisville.
A crater 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep was left by
the blast, which occurred about 9:30 p.m., Brown said.
Fires sparked by the explosion could be seen 20 miles away,
officials said.
“It was described to me as resembling where a bomb went off,” said
Bob Walter, a disaster and emergency services worker. “If you’ve
ever been to Vietnam, that’s exactly what it looked like.” Three
bodies were found early Sunday, and two more were discovered later
in a destroyed house near the scene, officials said.
There’s more in that article.
Here’s
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
Pipeline Accident Report
Texas Eastern Gas Pipeline Company Ruptures and Fires
at Beaumont, Kentucky on April 27, 1985 and
Lancaster, Kentucky on February 21, 1986,
NTSB/PAR-87/01, Continue reading 700×500 feet incinerated, 5 dead, 3 burned: Texas Eastern Gas Pipeline 1985 →
“But this isn’t an issue just for tree-huggers.
It’s one that every person who uses water ought to latch on to,”
she wrote.
Only a relatively small piece of a proposed natural-gas pipeline that is to cross three states would come through a corner of south Lake County, but the route is directly through one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in Florida.
