A DOMESTIC dispute led to parts of Worrigee, east of Nowra, being locked down on Wednesday evening when a gas main was ruptured after being struck by a car.
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The incident happened around 10pm on Greenwell Point Road near Rayleigh Drive, in front of the Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemen’s Sports Club and had the potential to cause a major explosion.
Police said a 64-year-old Worrigee woman had been involved in a domestic dispute with her partner in Peppermint Drive at Worrigee, where she allegedly rammed the man’s vehicle.
The man sought refuge at the nearby sports club.
It is alleged the woman drove her vehicle onto Greenwell Point Road, but left the road, ploughing through a fence onto the golf course.
The vehicle continued along a grassed area before crashing into an industrial gas metre, housed in a large metal cage.
The meter was destroyed and stuck under the vehicle, with a large cloud of gas vapour rising from the ruptured pipe.
Fearing an explosion, police closed nearby roads, setting up an exclusion zone.
Traffic was blocked at Old Southern Road and Rayleigh Drive, while patrons were also prevented from leaving the car park of the Ex-Servicemen's Sports Club.
Fire and Rescue NSW Shoalhaven attended the scene, spraying a mist of water into the gas cloud, which at one stage drifted up towards an electrical transformer.
The gas main was shut down around 11pm, with the roads reopened to traffic at 11.15pm.
The woman was charged with a high range drink drive offence, recording a reading higher than 0.15 and with driving in a manner dangerous.
She was granted conditional bail to appear at Nowra Local Court on Friday, August 29.
A worker undertaking repairs at the scene Thursday to replace the meter, said it was lucky the gas, which was escaping at a huge pressure, hadn’t exploded.
“If it had gone up it could have blown sky high,” the worker said.