by Boston Herald
At least 100 people were evacuated from their homes this morning after a “major gas leak” was reported in Lawrence one year after a series of gas line explosions and fires ravaged the city.
“People must evacuate,” Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera said on Twitter, adding the leak is in the area around Andover to Merrimack streets and Sandborn to Parker streets.
Officials said that there was not an official number of people that they evacuated, but 110 people were sent to Arlington Middle School on Arlington Street, where as shelter was set up.
That area is serviced by Columbia Gas, the same company involved in the Merrimack Valley gas line explosions on Sept. 13, 2018, that resulted in one death and drove people out of their homes in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover as fires raged.
Officials with Columbia Gas said at a press conference this morning that gas and electricity has been shut off to the area and that they are going house to house to make sure the area is safe. There is still no word on what caused the leak.