A natural gas leak forced evacuations and the closure of businesses in Clarion on Wednesday afternoon.
Wright County Emergency Management Director Jim Lester reported a crew was burying fiber optic cable in the 100 block of Second Street N.W. when the gas line was struck.
The accident caused the evacuation and sheltering in place of nearby residents. All downtown businesses were forced to close due to the incident.
Detours were set-up throughout Clarion including the rerouting of traffic on Highway 3.
Crews from MidAmerican Energy were on the scene to make repairs to the line. The repairs to the gas line were completed early this morning.
All roadways were reopened to traffic at 2:00 a.m.
(Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)
