A natural gas leak in explosive range forced Lawrence, Mass. residents to evacuate their homes early on Sept. 27, according to electric utility National Grid, which cut power to more than 1,300 customers to avoid another disaster like last year's natural gas explosions and fires in Lawrence and two other towns north of Boston. The leak came just days after federal officials called for changes to national pipeline regulations as they released a final report on the causes of the Sept. 13, 2018, disaster.
After the leak was discovered in a high-pressure pipeline at 3:15 a.m. on Sept. 27, hundreds of people were evacuated to a shelter at a local middle school as Columbia Gas of Massachusetts cut gas to 146 customers and searched homes and businesses "door-to-door" for leaked gas, according a Columbia Gas tweet. The Boston Globe reported that the leaking gas line was installed after last year's disaster that killed one person, sent 22 others to the hospital and damaged 131 structures in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. No fires or explosions had been reported, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.