POWAY, Calif. — Residents in Poway have returned home after they were asked to evacuate Friday by the San Diego Sheriff's Department following the discovery of a gas leak.
The temporary evacuation order was given for the area of Pomerado Road and Holland Road, shortly after noon. An evacuation point has been set up at Mesa View Baptist Church on 13230 Pomerado Road.
San Diego Sheriff posted a map of the evacuation area and road closures.
So far, 530 homes have been evacuated.
The gas leak happened just before 10am.
SDG&E said the eak was caused by "a third-party dig-in on Pomerado Rd." The utility company said that they are working as quickly and safely as possible, but did not provide an estimate as to when people can return to their homes. The leak was turned off at 3:30pm. A spokesperson said the pipe will likely be prepared within the next 24 hours.
Residents tell CBS8 they were notified about the evacuation order via text.
Some had Sheriff's deputies show up at their door.
Poway's Deputy Fire Chief, Brian Mitchell said, "Our primary concern right now is through explosive hazard, not respiratory hazard. We wanna make sure the gas is not within a flammable range. In some areas, it has been, so that's our greatest concern and we're basing our evacuations based on those numbers and readings we're getting with multi gas detectors."