A one-block area in the City of Hamburg was evacuated for about two and a-half hours Sunday night, after a business owner detected a gas leak. Sheriff Kevin Aistrope says his office received a call at around 7:50 p.m., from the owner of the Hamburg Antique Mall, concerning a strong odor of natural gas inside the building.
A technician with Black Hills Energy was called to investigate, and requested the area in the 1000 block of Main Street be evacuated. High levels of gas were detected inside the mall, with lesser amounts in the Hamburg Newspaper office and an adjacent restaurant. The gas was thought to be leaking underground, and leaking through the buildings, through the foundations.
A digging crew found and repaired the leak in the back of the buildings, in area around the gas meters. Once the leak was fixed, the doors of affected building were opened-up to allow the gas to ventilate.
By Ric Hanson, KJAN Atlantic