Gas main blows in Grosse Pointe Woods causing evacuation

Image 1 of 3

A gas main blows in Grosse Pointe Woods after a construction crew hits the line while working on Vernier.

Utility crews rushed to make repairs while residents were forced to flee 200 homes just in case.

"I was sitting down to my morning routine of Leave It to Beaver and Perry Mason when there was a big boom out front," said Chuck Burk.

That big boom according to authorities was a DTE Energy crew hitting a gas main on Vernier in Grosse Pointe Woods Tuesday morning.

"It's 50, 60 feet from my home," Burke said. "It blew straight up."

"This is an accident," said Chief John Kosanke, Grosse Pointe Woods Public Safety. "They accidently hit a gas main and now it's ruptured."

It sent gas spewing into the air leading to public safety evacuating the area and putting Grosse Pointe Woods North High School on lockdown, sending out text messages and going door to door.

The efforts were to try to minimize risk in a potentially deadly situation.

"If you have a lot of extra gas in the area if it seems back in the house and it hits an ignition point you could have an explosion," Kosanske said.

Tuesday morning's gas leak is the second in just as many weeks in Grosse Pointe Woods.

"We're used to talking to them - they've been fixing gas lines all over the city," Kosanske said.

Around 11:30 a.m. DTE was able to get the gas shut off and public safety started letting people know it was safe to return to their homes.