{"id":101032,"date":"2017-05-26T07:50:54","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T12:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/?p=101032\/"},"modified":"2017-05-26T08:22:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T13:22:33","slug":"my-gas-station-is-flooded-what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/my-gas-station-is-flooded-what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"My gas station is flooded! What do I do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the recent flooding that affected Quebec&#8217;s coastal area, more than 3,000 residences were flooded as well as businesses, including gas stations.<\/p>\n<p>One victim has been a<strong> Super Gas<\/strong>\u00a0service station that we can see here completely flooded. The gas brand and its related\u00a0<strong>Arr\u00eat-Pause<\/strong> convenience store banner are operated by Vancouver-based\u00a0<strong>Super Save Group<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Now we can all figure out the damage to a residence or business when it is flooded, but what about a gas station?<\/p>\n<p>Given the presence of fuel tanks and electric pumps, is it rendered inoperable? Well, it all depends, but not necessarily.<\/p>\n<p>The worst risk is buoyancy, that is if reservoirs are empty or half-empty and then end up under water, they will rise to the surface under tremendous forces. It is therefore recommended to fill them to the maximum before flooding arises.<\/p>\n<p>According to the US <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sites\/production\/files\/2014-03\/documents\/ustfloodguide.pdf\"><strong>Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)<\/strong><\/a>, the damage caused by water to a gas station can be indeed very serious:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As we mentioned, during a flood, an underground storage tank (UST) is subjected to buoyant forces that could offset the restraint of backfill, pavement, or hold-down straps, causing the tank to shift in the backfill from its location.<\/li>\n<li>Forces of rapidly moving water can cause soil erosion or scour;<\/li>\n<li>Exposing the system to stressors from flood water pressure or floating debris makes it even more vulnerable to being undermined or collapse;<\/li>\n<li>Underground piping could have shifted and become detached, releasing product into the environment;<\/li>\n<li>Water or other debris could have entered a reservoir through openings such as fill pipes, vent pipes, gaskets, loose fittings, covers, sumps, and damaged tank walls;<\/li>\n<li>Finally, extended contact with floodwaters may cause damage to electrical equipment associated with UST systems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What operators should do once the water is removed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure the power is off;<\/li>\n<li>Determine if oil has escaped into the environment;<\/li>\n<li>Determine whether water or debris has entered the tank system;<\/li>\n<li>Return\u00a0power after inspection;<\/li>\n<li>Check release detection system;<\/li>\n<li>Check all equipment: pumps, valves, pipes and vents;<\/li>\n<li>Clean and empty spill bucket and sumps;<\/li>\n<li>Perform a system tightness test;<\/li>\n<li>Test spill bucket and sumps;<\/li>\n<li>Test cathodic protection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Depending on the extent of the damage, it may be possible to restart the UST very quickly but also to have to replace the whole tank system at enormous costs!<\/p>\n<p>So to our friends at <strong>Super Gaz, <\/strong>good luck\u00a0and courage to get out of this mess and we wish you the best!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_101029\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101029\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/StationSuperGazavantlinondation.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-101029\" src=\"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/StationSuperGazavantlinondation.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/StationSuperGazavantlinondation.jpg 800w, https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/StationSuperGazavantlinondation-600x334.jpg 600w, https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/StationSuperGazavantlinondation-400x223.jpg 400w, https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/StationSuperGazavantlinondation-768x427.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-101029\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The <strong>Super Gaz<\/strong>\u00a0service station is managed by the Vancouver-based <strong>Super Gaz Group<\/strong>. We see the station here during\u00a0better and dryer days.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the recent flooding that affected Quebec&#8217;s coastal area, more than 3,000 residences were flooded as well as businesses, including<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":101027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1749,223],"tags":[1357,1413],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Stationinondee.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}