Gas leak in Washington Heights forces buildings to evacuate
A gas leak in Upper Manhattan forced dozens of people to evacuate buildings in the area.
New York City firefighters and Con Edison started investigating reports of elevated gas readings Monday morning on Amsterdam Avenue between 158th Street and 159th in Washington Heights.
Gas service to the area was shut down and Amsterdam Ave. was closed down to 156th Street as Con Ed crews started digging into the sidewalk to locate the source of the leak.
The FDNY said approximately 70 people were evacuated from three buildings on Amsterdam Ave. as a precaution after the call came in at around 10:30 a.m.
"I smelled the gas in my apartment. It was a heavy smell. So, we'd rather be safe than sorry," Elton Maxwell said.
About four hours later, Con Ed said the leak at 1989 Amsterdam was repaired, the building was safe and there were no gas outages.
"Con Edison crews were able to make the repair to the main, which was [accidentally] hit by a third-party contractor," the utility said.
The tenants returned to their apartments and no injuries were reported.