WALKER - A natural gas outage and low gas pressure in Livingston Parish left approximately 7,000 customers without heating amid a severe cold front. 

Friday afternoon, the gas outage was affecting the northwestern part of the Walker gas system, near Highways 16, 1019 and 1020. As of Friday evening, the city says some customers are still experiencing outages.

Walker city officials said the outage is due to a high demand for gas during the freezing temperatures, resulting in low gas pressure or even loss of gas entirely. 

The city released the following public service announcement Friday evening:

"After the temperatures across the area dropped early this morning to below freezing, the City of Walker has received multiple calls about low gas pressure or loss of gas. City of Walker is experiencing all-time high gas demands as a result of the cold weather and increase of new homes in the area. Unfortunately, some customers are experiencing outages. The City of Walker has crews in the field working to improve gas pressure but requests the public's help over the next couple of days.

For those in the Watson area, the City of Walker is asking for your help to conserve gas during periods of extreme cold temperatures. The following actions could be helpful to maintaining pressure on the system:

1. Shut off any gaslights

2. Not using your natural gas fireplace

3. Lowering the thermostat to 68 degrees

4. Lower the water heater temperature to 120 degrees

5. If you have a natural gas generator, take it off automatic startup mode if possible. This can reduce large spikes in gas demand in the event of a power outage.

6. Do not use the pool heater if you have a pool. Run the pool pump during the coldest part of the day to prevent water freezing.

Also remember if you smell natural gas, leave the area immediately and from a safe distance contact City of Walker at 225-413-2430 or call 911.

The City of Walker is currently evaluating the gas system and has started developing a modernization plan to identify needed improvements to meet the growth of our service areas. While this will not be a short term fix, several small projects identified in the study are currently under construction or in engineering phase. City of Walker is committed to making these needed system improvements to meet the growing demand of the community we serve."