Mandan had some of its brightest hours the past couple of days, even when parts of the city were without natural gas.

Literally, parts of the city were well-lit for the past couple of nights, as residents and business owners left exterior lights on to help guide technicians through the night.

"Everyone was appreciative and very helpful," Mark Hanson, spokesman for MDU Resources, said of the community response to a natural gas outage. "Having people home and their lights on played a big role in getting it done much quicker than our original plan."

He's referring to getting natural gas back to the 5,200 customers in Mandan who were without it, after a leak in a mainline natural gas pipe on Collins Avenue forced the company to shut down the gas, then individually relight it in each residence or business affected.

As of late Tuesday, MDUwas waiting to coordinate with only a couple of straggling customers; Hanson said crews were still verifying that every customer had been contacted.

"I think more of what we're seeing today is going back to what would typically happen any day of the week,"he said, referring to intermittent service calls and a thinning local crew.

The leak was discovered at about 6 a.m. Sunday; it was repaired by 1:30 Sunday afternoon. Hanson said last summer's construction on Collins may have caused the line to rupture; in fact, that section of line was scheduled to be rerouted this summer, after it was placed too close to a water line to accommodate the contour of the new road.

The rerouting of the line is still scheduled to take place.

While the crews were working through the nights to restore natural gas, state agencies combined to ensure residents were warm, well fed and getting the information they needed.

The Red Cross set up a shelter at the Eagles Club on Collins Avenue in Mandan; while no one spent the night, several people came in for food and information, said Jutta Hopkins, executive director of the Burleigh-Morton counties chapter.

"Iwas really impressed," Hopkins said. "Even the Emergency Operations Center … they kept us all informed and they kept us involved. Then, the community. We had different businesses call us and offer their assistance."

The North Dakota National Guard organized a heater-lending program, and itself donated 112 of its own units to the cause. The program was so successful that it was discontinued by mid-day Monday because they had too many.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or crystal.reid@bismarcktribune.com.)