Montreal firefighters responded to a major gas leak Thursday morning after workers repairing an underground aqueduct on Kildare Road near Cavendish Boulevard struck a natural gas pipe, causing a leak.
Benoit Martel, chief of operations with the Montreal fire department, said several hundred people were evacuated from neighbouring buildings, including a school.
READ MORE: Gas leak in the heart of downtown Montreal shuts down streets
Martel explained that nursing homes in the area were not evacuated but teams of firefighters are on site to monitor gas levels in the buildings.
“Gas can infiltrate through the road and into the buildings,” he said.
Some 12,000 Hydro-Québec customers in Côte Saint-Luc, Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Hampstead were without power as crews attempt to cap the leak.
The public utility said it is progressively restoring power in the area.
Martel said workers with Energir, the gas utility company, were digging on both sides of the six-inch pipe in hopes of pinching it closed.
Motorists were also urged to avoid the area.
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