Some felt the road rumbling beneath their tires while others heard a deafening boom all around them as they drove on Florida’s Turnpike during regular rush hour traffic near Lake Worth Road on Thursday morning. The next thing they knew, they were driving through a dense mist of brownish smoke from an abrupt explosion.
People living nearby got an alert to their phones that they were in danger because of a ruptured gas line at least a half-mile away. They would have to evacuate or hide in their homes.
The blast blew a crater into the side of the turnpike’s northbound overpass, just before the bridge begins. Hundreds of cars were steered away because of the potential for catastrophe.
Officials don’t know what caused the gas leak in the 18-inch natural gas line. Transportation officials and the Florida Gas Transmission Company are investigating.
Just before 10 a.m. Thursday, fire rescue crews reported a main gas line failure running parallel to the turnpike near Exit 93 west of Lake Worth Beach.
The pipeline’s eruption damaged the structure of the overpass, closed the turnpike in both directions and closed Lake Worth Road between Jog Road and U.S. 441, said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Yanko Reyes.
Northbound traffic backed up on the turnpike for about 10 miles from the Lake Worth Road exit to the Boynton Beach Boulevard exit. Both sides of the turnpike reopened by 8:30 p.m., except for the far right lane of the northbound side.
There was no fire and residents within a half-mile radius were advised to remain inside their homes or leave the area. That order was lifted by noon.
Florida Gas Transmission Company did not answer several phone calls seeking information. Just before 6 p.m., the company released a statement confirming the gas leak from the 18-inch natural gas line that runs along the Florida Turnpike.
“This section of pipeline was immediately shut in to isolate the incident area and safely stop the flow of gas,” the statement reads. The gas that was spewing out of the line was “completely blown down” within half an hour, the statement said.
There were no injuries reported, though a “small number” of people were evacuated from the commercial buildings on either side of the turnpike as a precautionary measure, according to the statement. They were allowed to return by noon.
“There will be no interruptions to customer deliveries as the flow of natural gas was diverted to another pipeline in the system,” the statement said. “The cause of the release is not known at this time, however there will be a thorough investigation into the matter.”
The company did not answer questions about the blast, the age of the gas line, the last time it was inspected or repaired, how often ruptures like this tend to happen, how many people may have been in danger or whether they were safer in their homes.
Discovery Key Elementary School was evacuated by the Palm Beach School District police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. School buses shuttled the students out of the area.
Several agencies including Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Transportation were at the scene working to cap the leak.
There were no reports of any injuries, but traffic was backed up for miles.
Alternate routes around the turnpike closure include U.S. 441, Lyons Road and Interstate 95.
Beginning about noon, the Florida Highway Patrol and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies and FDOT were turning around the backed-up northbound turnpike traffic and allowing vehicles to cross the median and exit the roadway via the Lake Worth Road entrance ramp to the southbound turnpike.
Wayne K. Roustan can be reached at wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 561-379-6119 or on Twitter @WayneRoustan
