Residents allowed back in homes following ‘significant gas leak’ in Belleville

Residents of a west Belleville neighborhood have been allowed back into their homes following what authorities called a “significant gas leak.”

The leak occurred in the 300 block of Clearview Drive in the Ogles subdivision when at about 9:30 a.m. sewer workers hit a buried gas delivery pipe.

“They hit a two-inch gas line,” Belleville Fire Department Chief Tom Pour said. “The area was evacuated as a precaution.”

Residents within a block of the ruptured line were required to leave their homes and the road was closed to traffic. The fire department allowed people back in their houses around noon.

Ameren Illinois spokesman Brian Bretsch said occupants of five homes were affected by the evacuation. While they had to leave their homes because of the smell of gas and the possibility the vapors could ignite, the houses weren’t without gas needed to run their furnaces.

“The good news is that this is a two-way line which means people in the area won’t have their gas service interrupted,” Bretsch said.

Bretsch said a two-way line allows gas to flow either way, just as it sounds.

“It’s similar to when we have an electrical outage and we find a different circuit to get power to the affected area,” Bretsch said.

The high Friday morning, after a couple of weeks of warmer than usual temperatures, peaked at 38 degrees just about the time the evacuation was ended.

While residents were back in their homes, Ameren workers continued to make permanent repairs at the site into the afternoon hours Friday.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Residents allowed back in homes following ‘significant gas leak’ in Belleville."