More than 10,000 people are being evacuated from a rural Idaho town after a gas line exploded
- Joe Decker, spokesman for the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, said he did not yet know whether any injuries had been reported in connection with the explosion in Middleton
- The sheriff said people within 4 miles of the explosion – including the town of 10,600 – were ordered to evacuate while police assessed the situation
- The evacuation order was lifted a short time later after the sheriff confirmed that gas service to the line had been interrupted, and residents were ordered to “shelter in place.”
An Idaho town of about 10,000 evacuated its residents Thursday after a gas line exploded at a nearby intersection.
Authorities then ordered the evacuation of most of the town of Middleton – local sheriffs later said they did not yet know whether there were any injuries in connection with the explosion.
Canyon County sheriff’s spokesman Joe Decker said people within a 4-mile radius of the explosion – which includes the small town – were ordered to evacuate as authorities warned motorists about an hour away from the then-threatened area would have kept away.
The order has since been lifted – after police confirmed the gas main had been switched off at around 11.40am. At that point, residents of the city of 10,600 were advised to “shelter in place” instead.
The footage shows the explosion as it occurred – reportedly triggering a series of rumbles that reverberated for several kilometers. There were also a number of elementary schools in the area, but they were not evacuated and have since resumed classes, teachers said.
Canyon County Sheriff’s social media accounts alerted residents when the explosion occurred, as smoke was still rising from the highway where the explosion occurred.
“MIDDLETON EVACUATION NOTICE,” the department’s initial warning, broadcast at 11:20 a.m. local time, read — before revealing that officers were “working to evacuate everyone within a 4-mile radius of Purple Sage Road and Duff Lane evacuate”.