South College Road now open after shutdown due to gas leak

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A gas leak forced emergency crews to shut down a busy stretch of South College Road in Wilmington on Wednesday afternoon.

Wilmington Fire Department was on scene, closing College Road between New Centre Drive and Randall Parkway

Several nearby businesses had been evacuated out of caution, including Petco, Great Clips, Staples, AT&T, Verizon, Carolina Ale House, Kickback Jack’s, 17th Street Surf Shop, Rooms To Go, and First Citizens Bank.

According to Wilmington Fire Public Information Officer Rebekah Thurston, the gas leak was caused due to a construction crew hitting a gas line while digging in front of the AT&T store.

She said the evacuation was necessary to protect people from a possible explosion.

“Any time there’s natural gas involved, there is some, some fear of explosions obviously,” Thurston said. “But we have taken an abundance of caution and evacuated areas that could be affected. So obviously that is on the forefront of everyone’s mind.”

Wednesday’s gas leak was just a few hundred feet away from where a car hit a gas meter, causing an explosion that injured 5 firefighters last month.