City workers struck a natural gas main Thursday morning at the corner of Belmont Street and First Avenue in Albert Lea, prompting the evacuation of several homes in the immediate vicinity for about an hour.

A crew was working on a catch basin in the storm sewer when it somehow cut open the plastic gas pipe at about 10:15 a.m. Police and fire responded along with Alliant Energy workers.

Bob Danner, the Albert Lea manager of customer operations for Alliant Energy, estimated that 84 homes were without gas. No one was injured.

Police and fire assisted in evacuating the neighborhood while the Alliant Energy workers dug a new hole by hand up the pipe and squeezed the plastic pipe with a clamp. Also, the gas at all the homes was shut off from the outside.

The Tribune is two blocks from the corner. It was not evacuated, but the gas was shut off.

Danner said the Alliant crew had to apply heat and fuse a new pipe onto the existing one. After a cooldown, the clamp was released, restoring pressure. Alliant workers then went home to home, turning on the gas on the exterior and then going inside to light the pilots for furnaces, water heaters and any other uses.

The turned the gas on at the Tribune building at 3 p.m.

Danner said the crews would work into the evening. A major emphasis was on making sure people had heat for the homes for the night.