Following a gas line leak, the Elizabethton Fire Department had Sycamore Street closed down from Johnson Avenue to Oak Street Monday morning.
“There was a 3/4 inch service line that we didn’t know about,” said Johann Coetzee, water utility director.
The ruptured gas line was not marked by the gas utility prior to the city water utility’s effort to move forward with waterline improvement plans.
“There was a two-inch line that was marked,” Coetzee said. “By the gas company rules, these guys hand dig until they find the gas line that is marked.”
The crew was trying to find and follow a galvanized water line scheduled to be closed off at Oak Street.