Natural gas outage on coldest day in Houston so far

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A natural gas outage affected 2,500 customers on the south side of Houston. Some residents said they were without heat or warm water. 

Freddie Smith told FOX 26 News that  when he woke up on Friday morning, he realized his natural gas service had been interrupted. He also said he didn't take a shower because there was no warm water and he didn't want to become ill.

Just a few doors down the road, Stella Hardin said her grandson Kirk had been taking care of her after the natural gas stopped working.

"I can't cook, I couldn't take no shower earlier this morning, no water, no gas, I can't even turn it on to keep the house warm," explained Hardin.

And on the coldest night of the Texas winter so far, Hardin said this couldn't have happened at a worse time. 

"It's supposed to freeze tonight, what am I to do?," asked Hardin.

CenterPoint Energy said it was not sure what caused the outage but that it dispatched more than 100 crews to restore service. 

"We realize it's chilly outside, we've gathered all the resources here to get them back on as quickly and as safely as possible," said Angela Dixon. She also said that if residents smell natural gas, they should leave their homes and call CenterPoint immediately.