Yesterday afternoon, at about 12:45pm, a major natural gas line was ruptured in Uptown Charlotte after a backhoe tore through a four-inch wide gas line at the corner of N. College and E. Trade Street.
Minutes after the line was cut, Charlotte Fire Department crews arrived on scene to begin working on the line;
Traffic Advisory; Natural Gas Line Cut; Trade & Tryon St and also Trade & College St are affected; significant delays in Uptown area; please avoid & seek alternate routes pic.twitter.com/1rOZYYit21
— Charlotte Fire Dept (@CharlotteFD) September 27, 2018
Workers in the surrounding buildings could hear the gas leaking from down below and saw it forcefully blowing through the trees. Some even said it sounded like a jet engine starting up;
One worker in the Bank of America headquarters building said it sounded like a jet engine starting up;
Gas leak near Trade and Tryon pic.twitter.com/gJh8mclZFY
— Mike DeLong (@MikeDeLong99) September 27, 2018
That loud noise in Uptown is a natural gas leak — around 1 p.m. construction workers punctured a 4-inch gas line #CLT #uptown pic.twitter.com/OZS73xb0Vr
— Cole del Charco (@ColedelCharco) September 27, 2018
While the City of Charlotte did not issue any mandatory evacuations, several businesses in Uptown voluntarily evacuated their offices to be safe.
The line was finally capped and the area deemed safe at around 4pm yesterday afternoon;
Update Natural Gas Line Cut; 100 blk of E. Trade St; 30 FF needed to bring the incident under control in 3 hrs. @CharlotteFD will remain on scene to monitor buildings until deemed safe; no injuries reported. CFD received the 911 call at 12:51pm & Battalion 1 on scene at 12:56pm pic.twitter.com/rxAn32iH0o
— Charlotte Fire Dept (@CharlotteFD) September 27, 2018