Downtown Port Elgin resembled a ghost town during the lunch hour.
Police and Fire Departments were called to a construction site in front of the library at about 12 noon yesterday.
There they discovered the smell of natural gas coming out from a ruptured line.
Saugeen Shores Deputy Fire Chief Phil Eagleson says it was big leak from a high-pressured line.
Eagleson says they immediately close down roads and began to evacuate the businesses and homes in the immediate area.
He says they later expanded the evacuation zone once the downtown core was cleared.
Saugeen Shore Police Chief Dan Rivett says there were no difficulties in getting people to leave.
He says they usually start with a small perimeter and go door to door advising people to move.
He says once they learned that it was going to be some time before Union Gas arrived at the scene the perimeter was slowly expanded.
Union Gas was able to patch up the leak around 2:30 P.M. yesterday.
Eagleson says fire officials then went to each business to check for any gas that may have entered their store.
He says once that was done they reopened the streets and allowed everybody back downtown.
