Shelter set up at Third Coast church

Third Coast Community Church, 6069 Blue Star Highway in Laketown Township, has opened its doors to help residents without heat or other services due to the natural gas outage in the Fennville, Douglas and Saugatuck areas.

The emergency shelter opened at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, 2025, according to a press release from the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management Department.

The shelter will offer essential services and support. Residents planning to stay are encouraged to bring:

• Medications

• Identification

• Personal hygiene supplies

• Bedding (if possible)

• Changes of clothing

• Important documents

For shelter-specific inquiries, call the American Red Cross at 1-800-RED CROSS.

For transportation assistance, call Allegan County Transportation: (269) 673-4229 or the Interurban Transit Authority at (269) 857-1418.

What happened

A natural gas transmission pipeline was damaged on Wednesday, impacting about 5,200 customers in Allegan County.

The outage could last several days.

The damage to the natural gas transmission pipeline stopped the flow of natural gas into the Michigan Gas Utilities pipeline, causing the outage. The transmission pipeline operator, TC Energy, is working to repair the damage to the pipeline. The damage was caused by a third party unaffiliated with MGU or TC Energy, according to a press release from Michigan Gas Utilities.

To ensure service is safely restored, MGU has been visiting all homes and businesses affected by the outage to turn service off at the meters.

After repairs to the TC Energy pipeline are completed and natural gas is flowing back into MGU’s pipeline, MGU and other Midwest utility crews will again visit each customer’s property to turn service back on at the meter. These crews also will relight all affected customers’ natural gas appliances to ensure they are working safely. For more information, visit https://news.michigangasutilities.com/