SELINSGROVE -- Traffic was detoured around the new Weis Markets in Selinsgrove. Emergency officials say construction crews ruptured a gas line just off Route 522.
"We shut everything down and kept everyone out of the area," assistant fire chief Brandon Ulrich said.
Tim Klinger of Sunbury was visiting his mother at The Manor at Penn Village Nursing Home nearby.
"Seen the workers run back and grab their cell phones so i figured they must have hit a gas line or a water line or something. I didn't notice the scent though until lunchtime," Klinger said.
The fire chief says close to 1,000 people were affected. They were told to either evacuate their homes or stay inside. This includes students at a local school, people who live at an apartment complex and a nursing home.
"They made an announcement over the loudspeaker. Nobody is allowed in and nobody is allowed out. It was good quality time for my visit with my mother," Klinger said.
"Someone came in our apartment and said we wouldn't dare leave and I went out to our auditorium and looked at the sign and it said to stay inside the building," Emily Neitz said.
Neitz and her husband were supposed to go to a doctor's appointment, but had to stay inside instead.
"We called the doctor and they said that's fine, there's nothing you can do about it," Neitz said.
UGI says the gas leak was shut off about an hour and a half later, but crews were there for most of the day fixing the problem.