Gas line rupture forces residents from homes

John Graber, The Olympian

TUMWATER -- Residents of 50 mobile homes in Tumwater Mobile Estates were evacuated Wednesday when a gas line ruptured during the earthquake.

A 1 1/4-inch natural gas line going into the park split at a T-joint, said Scott Lichten, an operations manager with Puget Sound Energy.

Work crews turned gas off while they repaired the line about 7 p.m.

"It'll be fixed tonight," Lichten said Wednesday.

About 65 of the park's 115 mobile homes use natural gas.

"It was blowing right up out of the ground," said Bill Lanning, manager of the park at 930 Trosper Road. "We knew there was gas (leaking) as soon as it hit."

The entire park was without water as work crews repaired lines. The park supplied bottled water to residents.

A block of Pine Street, which is inside the mobile home park, collapsed into a neighboring pond, taking two unoccupied cars into the water.

"The road just went pwoosh! And went down," Lanning said.

Jack and Carolyn Boone's mobile home is in front of the road that collapsed. Only a few pictures were shaken off their walls.

"I was expecting a lot more," Carolyn Boone said.

The two were glad they had a steal beam installed under their home to brace it in case of an earthquake.

The couple were in their car near the intersection of Trosper and Capitol Way when the earthquake hit.

"The car started rocking and I said, 'Oh no, we've got four flat tires," Carolyn said. "(Jack) said, 'No, it's an earthquake.'"

They returned home and the phone began ringing off the hook with family members from as far away as Denver and Germany trying to find out if they were OK.

"I thought how could they already know about this in Europe, but I thought it doesn't even stop shaking in Japan when they have an earthquake before we know about it," Carolyn Boone said.

John Graber covers Lacey, Tumwater and military issues for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5465.

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