ERFD personnel and a representative from the Chattanooga Gas Co. responded to a natural gas leak in the 700 block of South Moore on Wednesday afternoon. The incident briefly shut down the heavily-traveled road.

Motorists in the 700 block of South Moore Road were briefly inconvenienced Wednesday afternoon after a construction crew working at a house struck a natural gas line.

Officials said the incident at 709 Moore was reported at 3:19 p.m. Firefighters immediately responded to the scene to assess the potential threat, said Chief Mike Williams.

“We evacuated eight homes after we detected gas in the area,” Chief Williams said. “We were using meters to monitor the gas levels and we wanted to get people outside the zone where we detected the gas.”

Officials said that a private contracting firm had struck a residential gas line, rupturing the flexible tubing providing gas to homes. The line had been marked by a utility as much as four feet away from where the contractor was digging.

Hunter Henry, who lives in the house where the line was ruptured, said there were seven people inside the home at the time of the incident.

“We were having some plumbing work done and I was sitting there and I heard a loud hissing,” Henry said. “Firefighters came in and said we had to go that it was a gas leak.”

Emergency vehicles responding to the incident briefly blocked South Moore. East Ridge police officers helped detour traffic onto Maryland Drive from the south and Deleware from the north. One lane of traffic was opened at 3:50 p.m.