LAWRENCE (WBZ-AM) -- As temperatures dipped in the 30s in the Merrimack Valley overnight, Michael Regan said it was in the 40s inside his home.
The 76-year-old Brookfield Street resident still has no gas service five weeks after his neighbor's home caught fire in the natural gas disaster. Even though Columbia Gas has hotel rooms and trailers available for residents, Regan told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Bernice Corpuz he doesn't want to leave his home.
"Ah, it's frustrating, but I'll just get this blanket out," he said. "I keep warm, I hunker down with a warm blanket, the kind you go hunting with, and I hunker down with a nice wool blanket my dear sister gave me ... No heat, no nothing, I got water, but no hot water."
He did, however, buy some lottery tickets, hoping that would solve his problem.
"Win that, I'll buy a heated house!" he said.
Mark Powell said his thermometer read 34 degrees this morning. On top of that, he had to take a cold shower.
"It's very cold, it's uncomfortable," Powell said.
He said he'd buy more blankets and layers with some of the relief money he got from Columbia Gas.
"The company offered me a hotel room, a credit card for three meals," he said. "Why stay home? Because it's my home, it's a place that I care about."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Bernice Corpuz (@BerniceWBZ) reports