Gas shot into the air over the Washington Street Historic District Tuesday morning after a third-party contractor struck a TECO Peoples Gas line near Center Street and Key Street in Eustis, prompting the evacuation of nearby homes. Bystanders reported seeing a gray stream of gas shooting upward as crews scrambled to secure the area. The rupture sits less than a half-mile from the site of a fatal gas explosion that killed a local business owner in December.
The leak was reported Tuesday morning, according to FOX 35 Orlando, which reported that TECO officials confirmed a company line was damaged during contractor work. TECO has not disclosed the specific nature of the work the contractor was performing when the line was struck. Crews were expected to remain on scene throughout Tuesday to complete repairs, per the same report.
The Eustis Fire Department closed South Center Street from Lemon Avenue to Fernshaw Avenue and Key Avenue between South Grove Street and South Mary Street while TECO crews worked to isolate the damaged pipe, according to Inside Lake. The closures fell within the Washington Street Historic District, a designated historical neighborhood in Lake County, the outlet noted.
A Neighborhood Still Rattled by December's Fatal Blast
The proximity to December's explosion is impossible to ignore for residents who lived through it. That blast killed Wendy Davis, the owner of Darklyn Beads & Beyond jewelry store on South Eustis Street, who died three days after a fireball erupted inside her business, according to WFTV. Investigators later determined that natural gas from an external leak had seeped into underground utility lines beneath the jewelry store, even though the building itself had no active gas service connection, as Hoodline reported in its earlier coverage of the deadly blast.
That history helps explain why Tuesday's response was so cautious. Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution while crews worked to contain the newly damaged line, mirroring the underground gas migration that proved fatal just months earlier and less than half a mile away.
A Pattern of Leaks Across Eustis
Tuesday's incident is not an isolated event for the small Lake County city. In March, officials shut down Grove Street at Orange Avenue near Wilt Avenue after a separate gas leak forced extended safety closures, with Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri coordinating emergency traffic control, per Inside Lake. And in February 2024, authorities closed three city streets — Grove Street, East Idlewild Avenue, and East Pinehurst Boulevard — because of another gas leak, according to the same outlet.
TECO Peoples Gas, founded in 1895 as Tampa Gas Company and now a subsidiary of Emera Inc., is Florida's largest natural gas distribution utility, serving more than 500,000 customers statewide. The company is urging anyone who smells natural gas or suspects a leak to call 911 first, then contact TECO at 877-832-6747.
What Florida Law Requires Before Digging
State law mandates that property owners and excavators call 811 or visit Sunshine811.com before digging underground, a requirement TECO is again emphasizing following Tuesday's rupture. Despite that mandate, Florida sees more than 95 underground utility line strikes every day statewide, driven in part by heavy ongoing construction activity, according to Sunshine 811.
Under Chapter 556 of the Florida Statutes, the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, contractors who excavate near underground facilities carrying hazardous materials face noncriminal infractions and civil penalties of up to $500 per violation plus court costs, according to the Online Sunshine statute database. Enforcement of the safe-digging law rests with local law enforcement, municipal fire chiefs, and the State Fire Marshal, all of whom have statutory authority to order an excavator to immediately halt work upon issuing a citation.
FOX 35 Orlando reported it is still working to learn more about the third-party contractor authorities say caused Tuesday's damage. It remains unclear whether that contractor filed a Sunshine 811 locate ticket before digging, or whether local or state authorities will pursue civil citations under Chapter 556.
