HERTFORD, N.C. — Some people had to leave their homes Tuesday after someone cut the main natural gas line heading into Hertford.
One of those people, Roger Porcella, said the silence was what tipped him off.
He was "sitting on my computer this morning and I heard BANG! BANG! BANG!, which is normal," said Porcella, who is used to the bridge construction happening outside of his house each morning.
"It stopped after 3, which is unusual."
The next thing he noticed was a scurrying of construction movers, usually methodical in their movements, and then he noticed "they said they hit a pipe, I looked and could see it spewing (out of the ground)."
Porcella grabbed his dog and left his home, preempting the evacuation that enveloped a half-mile radius from the site of the damaged pipe. By 6 p.m., he hadn't been in his home since 9 a.m., and didn't know when he would be able to return.
"They said it could be 3 to 4 days," said Porcella.
The police department posted about the situation on its Facebook page around 9:45 a.m.
The post said that the Route 17 business corridor was closed, and officers asked people to avoid Wynne Fork Road near Edenton Road.
The department said police and firefighters would reach out to people who needed to evacuate their homes and that the Perquimans rec center and Perquimans Highs School would serve as shelters.
Officers said there was no need for people to evacuate if they hadn't been asked to do so.
Hertford Police Department later updated the post to say that Route 17 and businesses along it were reopening. It let people know that there may be an odor in the area.