Homes evacuated after gas line break

By Times Staff | Thursday, August 30, 2007

Three houses were evacuated and Locust Street near Davenport West High School was closed to traffic for about 90 minutes Wednesday morning because of a break in a gas line hit by construction workers.

Contractors working on the widening of Locust Street between Ohio and Elsie streets hit the main running along the north side of the street shortly after 8 a.m. Davenport firefighters were dispatched to the scene and MidAmerican Energy was contacted.

Gas was shut down about 8:45 a.m., MidAmerican Energy spokesman Allan Urlis said. One house lost gas service, but it was restored later in the day.

Three houses were evacuated by firefighters who were on the scene until 9:30 a.m. monitoring air around the gas line break. No one was injured in the incident.

Davenport West High School was unaffected by the gas leak and was not evacuated.