Nearly 40 residents evacuated from their homes after gas leak in Reading

Several homes in the 100 block of West Windsor Street were evacuated Monday night, with nearly 40 residents taking refuge at an emergency shelter in Northwest Middle School after a natural gas leak was discovered in a service line, officials said.

A resident called 911 about 7 p.m. to report an odor of natural gas.

A UGI Utilities crew located the leak in a service line that runs from the main to 144 W. Windsor, UGI spokesman John Mason said.

Crews shut off the line and, as a precaution, ordered power to be shut down for that home and the other homes in the block.

BARTA buses were brought in as makeshift warming stations until the shelter was set up at the middle school, 1000 N. Front St., by the American Red Cross, working with Berks County Department of Emergency Services.

A spokeswoman for the relief organization’s Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter said 36 residents took advantage of the shelter, which offered food, shelter, relief supplies, emotional support and other assistance to evacuees.

The residents were allowed to return to their homes around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after power was restored.

Repairs to the service line were completed after daylight. Mason said. The cause of the leak hadn’t been determined.