MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
On Thursday afternoon, the City of Hutchinson held a briefing to bring people up to date on the situation on South Main Street.
According to public works director Cecil Weible the evacuation zone is down to an area between avenue d and avenue f and between Washington Street and Walnut Street. They are estimating that it will take approximately two weeks for completion.
At the present time, five businesses are affected and Evergy says that they have twenty customers without electric service.
As of Wednesday, the Hutchinson Fire Department was cleared from the scene and no longer has a presence at the scene. The fire department and Kansas Gas will meet business owners that have not been allowed into their buildings to be escorted by a firefighter and a KGS employee to get important documents that they may need.
When asked, that policy was put in place by kgs and the fire department because there is still gas coming out of the ground.
KGS replaced 100-feet of gas line from the east to west under main street. The evacuation zone has been minimized to Main Street between Avenue D and to just north of Avenue F and from Walnut Street and Washington Street.
The city said that they will continue to provide updates as they become available.