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As Dorian bears down on Southeast, gas utilities brace for flooding, damage

Natural gas utilities are taking precautions as Hurricane Dorian threatens to menace the U.S., poised to dump several inches of rain on the southeast coast and putting gas infrastructure at risk of flood and other damage.

Underground gas pipelines face far lower risk than electric power lines during hurricanes, but major tropical storms like 2012's Hurricane Sandy have illustrated the myriad dangers gas utilities can face during extreme weather events. Low-pressure pipelines in flood-prone areas have proven particularly vulnerable, but storm surge can also tear residential gas infrastructure from homes, uprooted trees might unearth distribution lines and telecommunications outages can hamper efforts to monitor system operations.

Dorian has inched along the coast and remains highly unpredictable and may not directly strike Florida coast, but Floridians have learned that storms do not need to make landfall to have devastating impacts. Hurricane Matthew skirted Florida's coastline in 2016 but nevertheless flooded St. Augustine.

Dorian's path puts at risk operations overseen by a number of municipal gas utilities, as well as investor-owned utilities like Southern Co. subsidiaries Atlanta Gas Light Co. in Georgia and Virginia Natural Gas Inc. in eastern Virginia; Dominion Energy Inc. in South Carolina; Duke Energy Corp. subsidiary Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc., which provides gas service across most of eastern North Carolina; Tampa, Fla.-based Peoples Gas System; and Chesapeake Utilities Corp., which does business as Florida Public Utilities Co. in central and southern Florida.

Slow-moving storm raises flood risks

Dorian has already devastated parts of the Bahamas, essentially grinding to a halt above the Caribbean island chain, killing at least seven and leaving a trail of damage that was still being assessed. The known impacts raised concerns that the system could damage gas infrastructure if it moves slowly along the coastal U.S. and drenches service territories over long periods. Flooding raises the risk of earth movements, downed trees and other impacts that can affect pipes and their connections.

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National Grid USA saw in the aftermath of Sandy how low-pressure pipelines in New York that operated at about 0.25 pounds per square inch can suffer when water infiltrates the system, requiring extensive repair work and causing protracted outages.

Several southeast utilities reported they do not have these vulnerable assets in their systems. Peoples Gas and Florida Public Utilities do not operate any low-pressure systems in their Florida territories. Piedmont does not maintain low-pressure pipes in North or South Carolina, nor does Dominion in South Carolina.

But utilities were nevertheless taking precautions to prevent prolonged outages if — or when — the storm strikes.

Peoples Gas urged customers only to turn off gas to individual appliances and leave service uninterrupted, even if they were evacuating their homes.

"Leaving natural gas meters on helps to maintain proper pressure in the gas piping within homes or businesses and can prevent water from entering the lines should flooding occur," the company said in a briefing.

Piedmont plans to dispatch crews to flood-impacted parts of its territory to find gas meters that appear to have been submerged during the storm. Workers will remove affected meters, and the company will suspend service to the business or home until a contractor can inspect the building.

Dominion crews are "stocked, fueled up and ready" to respond to potential impacts from Dorian, a spokeswoman said.

Hurricane Dorian advances towards Southeast U.S.

Dorian was moving at about 7 miles per hour, according to a Sept. 4 update from the U.S. National Hurricane Center, a slight increase from 2 mph the previous morning. The storm was forecast to pick up speed as it moved northwest, according to a bulletin from the center.

"On this track, the core of Hurricane Dorian will move dangerously close to the Florida east coast and the Georgia coast through tonight. The center of Dorian is forecast to move near or over the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina Thursday through Friday morning," the National Hurricane Center said in a Sept. 4 bulletin.

Coastal North and South Carolina could see five to 10 inches of rain, with isolated areas getting pummeled with 15 inches, according to modeling from National Hurricane Center. Parts of Florida and Georgia may fall within bands that will see three to six inches of rain, with the potential for nine inches in some areas.

Hurricane warnings went into effect for the areas just north of West Palm Beach, Fla., through the Jacksonville area, as well as part of the South Carolina coast. Much of the remaining coastal area between Jacksonville and North Carolina came under hurricane watch. Storm surge warnings and watches were in place for much of that area, as well.