At least nine homes were evacuated in Barrie’s west end this morning as crews responded to a gas leak.

“I'm just kind of in shock in what happened,” said resident Darren Langlands. “It's the last thing I thought would ever happen.”

Shock was a common feeling for people on Ferndale Drive South in Barrie this morning. Many could smell gas as soon as they stepped outside.

“Inside the house I wasn't aware of anything. It's when I come outside to walk the dogs,” said Bev Beaubiem. “Then I realized that here at the corner with the road blocked off, and it's definitely not a very pleasant look.”

Work crews hit a two-inch natural gas line this morning. Natural gas billowed into the air for hours. Gas is no longer leaking, and the road reopened shortly after noon. But the leak concerned nearby residents.

“It's not a little … vapour,” said Lois Harnum of the vapours. “Like they are going quite high so I'm like, I have pets and stuff and I'm concerned about even letting them go outside.”

Tom Legault said it smelled and he felt unsafe.

“I kind of want to get beyond the lines if I can,” he said.

Several homes close to the leak were evacuated and traffic on the busy street was rerouted for much of the morning.

“We have a 30 meter evacuation zone and that's the reason for the road closure and we've closed both lanes of the road and we've evacuated houses in that area,” said Capt. Jesse Northcott with the Barrie fire department.

The company that hit the line was contracted by PowerStream.  It was doing work replacing hydro poles and securing them with wires. When workers drilled next to the existing wires, they hit the gas line.

“This kind of thing doesn't happen very often,” said John Olthuis with PowerStream.

“We contact or call Enbridge directly to get locates prior to our drilling and once we start drilling hopefully it's clear.”

Gas company crews had to locate and close off the line on both sides of the leak before they could go in and repair it. Gas was being vented out until about noon. No one was hurt and the weather cooperated.

“Thankfully it's a good windy day and it's dispersing any gas,” Olthuis said.

In a statement Enbridge said the gas supply was interrupted to a few homes in the area, but service would be restored as soon as repairs were finished. PowerStream said it plans to do a thorough investigation on what happened.