Wichita ? A Sedgwick County jury awarded more than $1.7 million Tuesday to a pair of Hutchinson businesses destroyed during the first of a series of natural gas eruptions in 2001.

The damages to the two downtown businesses are to be paid equally by Tulsa, Okla.-based ONEOK Inc. and Mid-Continent Marketing Center Inc., an affiliated marketing subsidiary.

After two days of deliberations, the jury also awarded punitive damages against Mid-Continent. A hearing will be scheduled in March before Judge James Fleetwood to determine the amount of those damages.

State geologists and investigators have said the explosions were caused by natural gas that leaked from an underground storage cavern owned by ONEOK. They say the gas traveled from the Yaggy storage field seven miles northwest of Hutchinson, erupting from old brine wells beneath the city. The blasts destroyed several buildings and killed two people.

The explosion and fire Jan. 17, 2001, destroyed the Woody’s Furniture and Decor Party Supplies buildings on the first day of the eruptions. The jury awarded more than $955,600 to Woody’s and $755,250 to Decor.

Arnold Froese, owner of Decor, told KFDI that punitive damages were the real goal of the lawsuit.

“We have been dealing with a corporation, an organization, that has demonstrated incompetence, irresponsibility and deception — and it’s those factors in my mind why someone needs to hold ONEOK and Mid-Continent accountable for their activities,” Froese said.

ONEOK spokeswoman Andrea Chancellor said she had not seen the verdict and that the company would not immediately comment.

Plaintiff’s attorney Jay Fowler argued during trial the gas companies put profits over safety, pumping gas into the storage field even after they knew there was a leak somewhere.

Defense attorney Lynn Hirsch argued there’s no proof the gas involved in the explosion was the same gas that escaped from the Yaggy gas storage field or that the apparent violations of safety regulations actually contributed to the explosions.

This is one of more than a dozen lawsuits stemming from the explosions.

Another explosion at a mobile home park the day after the downtown fire killed a couple whose survivors reached a settlement with ONEOK.

The largest lawsuit is scheduled for trial this summer in Reno County. It is a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of all businesses and property owners in the county and seeks $350 million in damages for loss of business and property values.