NEW LONDON — A gas leak has forced evacuations and a power shut down in downtown New London Wednesday afternoon.
The evacuation order has since been lifted, according to Mayor Michael Passero, who said there was no damage.
Passero said that 20 buildings were evacuated. The buildings are along the northern end of Bank Street and a half block on State Street. The area includes both residential and commercial space. The mayor said they suspected an inch and a half gas main was broken.
Officials with the New London Firefighter’s Union posted on Facebook, “A 2nd alarm has been transmitted for a gas leak IAO Bank and State street. No further information on exact location or further information on the incident. Evacuations in progress.”
The New London Firefighters Local 1522 tweeted, “Currently Waterford, Sub Base, PBFD and second alarm callback personnel covering citywide incidents.”
Around 3:37pm they said, “Eversource forced to shut down power to entire City due to incident downtown.”
Eversource said most customers had their power restored. Over 10,000 customers were without power at one point. Power was cut off to the New London train station, but has since been restored.
