Evacuation over. Residents allowed home (update, 6 photos)

Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services issued the following release, advising residents of the Elliott Road area that their homes have been deemed safe and they can return home:

A gas line was severed by Public Works and Transportation labourers performing general maintenance work on storm sewer systems.

Residents in the area were evacuated and power was disconnected as a precautionary measure.

Union Gas representatives located and controlled the leak shortly after 12 p.m. today.

Evacuated residents can return to the area effective immediately.  Residents will be allowed back in their homes after Union Gas representatives have tested for gas and have deemed their homes safe.

Gas company workers have plugged a gas leak on Elliott Road but as many as 30 homes remain evacuated as crews work to clear natural gas from sewer pipes in the area.

Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly before 10:30 a.m. after a city public works and transportation crew inadvertently severed a gas line, said Deputy Fire Chief Frank Brescacin.

The evacuation began at that point and will remain in effect until the area is deemed safe, said Brescacin.

"Right now, Union Gas has the leak under control and they are in the process of purging the sewer system to make sure no remnants of gas are in it," he said.

The surrounding neighbourhood remains cordoned off, with road closures at Elliott Road at Rossmore Road, Hill Street at Johnson Avenue, Peoples Road at Elliott Road and Farwell Terrace at Rossmore Road.

Brescacin said gas trapped in the sewer poses the risk of explosion and the risk that gas could escape into homes attached to those lines.

The exact number of people evacuated was not immediately available.

Previous update (12:17 p.m.):

Multiple agencies are on the scene of a gas leak in the Elliot Road area. 

The source of the leak has not yet been located, but crews are digging to find it, according to police on the scene.

Houses in the area have been evacuated and the surrounding streets remain blocked to traffic.

Evacuees are being housed in a Fire Services bus.

Police are asking motorists to avoid Elliot, where westbound traffic has been shut off and Rossmore Road at Farwell Terrace, where eastbound traffic is being restricted.

Officers have the following intersections closed:  Elliott Road at Rossmore Road, Hill Street at Johnson Avenue, Peoples Road at Elliott Road and Farwell Terrace at Rossmore Road.

Previous update (11:08):

Firefighters and police have closed off an area around Elliot Road and Peoples Road this morning.

SooToday is hearing reports of a possible gas leak.

A natural gas smell is apparent in the area.

At least some residents have been evacuated.

A photojournalist is on scene and will have updates soon.

(PHOTO: Multiple agencies including Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services, city police and PUC attend to the Elliiot Road area. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)