Kansas gas well that blew 100 feet high now fixed; complaints of illnesses, smell linger
Authorities said Friday that a natural gas well outside of Lyons that exploded during maintenance the day before is now safe and repaired.
Local residents had complained of an odor and a lingering haze, but a Northern Natural Gas official said there is no danger to the public.
The complaints of a noxious smell began after the underground storage well blew open after 3 p.m. Thursday southeast of Lyons, causing water and natural gas to fly up into the air.
Area resident Jacob Voorhies said the natural gas well shot 100 feet in the air and left a haze that descended on the city Thursday night. By Friday morning, the haze seemed to lift, but a natural morning fog did linger, he said.
“There was definitely a haze over the city and it wasn’t like fog,” he said. “It was something else. I think everyone says certain things for lawyers. I live a mile away and whenever you look across the street you could clearly see there was something in the air … I guarantee you walk around town and ask 80 people, all 80 people will say, ‘Yeah, there was something different last night.’”
A company spokesperson said the initial rupture caused a mixture of natural gas and water molecules to rupture into the air, causing a haze that would have been visible from town.
The amount of gas lost would be calculated during the company’s roughly three-week investigation into the leak, spokesperson Mike Loeffler said.
Kansas Corporation Commission spokesperson Linda Berry said the multi-state operation would be investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The organization did not reply to The Eagle, but Berry said she was told the organization is investigating.
Loeffler said measurements taken near the edge of Lyons didn’t detect any levels of sulfur or natural gas. About people’s complaints of a smell, Loeffler said it is likely sulfur that forms in the Arbuckle Formation, where the well is located.
“I can’t tell you what they were smelling, but what they likely were [smelling] was the sulfur [that forms in the] Arbuckle (Formation), which is where the well was completed in, would have trace amounts or low levels of sulfur,” Loeffler said.
He said the levels of sulfur wouldn’t be harmful.
Local residents disagreed with that assessment almost immediately.
“It’s giving me a headache the smell is so bad,” one person said in a Lyons community Facebook group. “I can’t imagine how it’s like for those of u closer to it.”
Loeffler said a naturally occurring fog postponed Cudd, the company that was capping the well, from finishing the job Thursday night.
“About 10 a.m. this morning, the valve was closed,” he said.
Three contractors doing maintenance were treated and released at the hospital in Lyons for non-serious injuries, Loeffler said.
About 15 people within a mile radius were evacuated out of caution, he said, and about 60 people lost electricity as officials tried to cut off any possible ignition sources.
During that process and into Friday, people in Lyons complained of burning eyes and flared up asthma after the well exploded, and social media for the area was full of reports of a loud noise coming from the well Thursday night.
Loeffler said natural gas is odorless and dissipates into the air, adding that the well blew open while contractors were performing regular maintenance.
“Something happened, we don’t know what happened, but there was an incident that caused the valve, I shouldn’t say the valve, there was something that caused a natural gas leak,” he said.
Voorhies said he found it concerning that thus far, no government entities had said anything about the incident on Thursday, but were vocal about the explosion Friday.
“There is no immediate threat to the citizens of Lyons nor a need to evacuate. However, you will smell gas product throughout the day. Operations are currently underway to contain the leak,” Rice County Emergency Communications said in a Friday morning Facebook post.
The agency posted several hours later that anyone who may have been displaced from the incident “may now return to the area.”
A Northern Natural Gas representative will be speaking with people affected by the gas leak. Anyone who isn’t contacted or still has unresolved issues by the middle of next week can contact Loeffler at 402-398-7103.
One of Kansas’ most notable natural gas leaks happened in 2001 about 30 miles southeast of Lyons.
In that case, gas leaked from an underground salt cavern and flowed seven miles underground to Hutchinson, where it popped up through abandoned brine wells and exploded. The first explosion destroyed about half a block of downtown businesses and shattered glass for blocks around. Two people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, The Hutchinson News reported.
A day later, gas found another path to the surface and exploded in a mobile home park in east Hutchinson, killing an elderly couple.
It took more than a month for flares to burn off the estimated 143 million cubic feet of gas that escaped from storage.
Contributing: Dion Lefler with The Eagle
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 3:59 PM.