By Gina Martinez
A gas leak in Richmond Hill caused a major headache for commuters early Monday morning.
According to fire officials, a National Grid vault leaked at 7:43 a.m. on 118th Street and Liberty Avenue, causing the A train from 118th and Liberty to Rockaway Blvd. to shut down temporarily.
The fire department evacuated nine buildings, each with three residential units and one commercial unit.
Con Edison responded by temporarily suspending electric services in the area during the ventilation process.
By 11:45 a.m. any initial chaos seemed to calm down, the A train was back in service, the Q10 bus was back to running its original route but the Q112 was still being rerouted to avoid the closed down section of Liberty Avenue, officials on the scene said.
One block from the leak were multiple officers, National Grid vans and firefighters. National Grid was still operating on the leaked vault on 118-10 Liberty Ave.e at around noon.
People were still lined up behind police tape confused as to what had happened or what to do. One mother stood with her two kids and complained that she was unable to get them to school on time.
George Davis, who lives a few blocks from the train station on 120th Street, was also standing behind the police line calmly observing the scene.
“I came out and saw a lot of traffic and that the buses weren’t running, but everything seems alright,” he said.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
