EAST CHICAGO | Construction workers pierced a gas main in East Chicago on Thursday afternoon, triggering the evacuation of several city blocks Thursday night.

School buses shuttled residents from their homes near the leak at Broadway and Ivy Street to the nearby Roberto Clemente Center. Lifelong Parrish Avenue resident Sue Barna was first on a bus during the mandatory evacuation.

"We've had a couple robberies in the neighborhood and I hate to leave the house, but, you know, what are you gonna do?" she said.

The evacuation was "precautionary," said Assistant Fire Chief Arturo Vazquez. Fire crews evacuated homes about 6 p.m. on Broadway and within one block of Broadway on Ivy and Parrish. Construction workers broke the line around 3:45 p.m., Vazquez said. Some people left homes voluntarily between 3:45 and the evacuation, Vazquez said.

Workers drilling asphalt broke the 2-inch steel gas main, said NIPSCO spokesman Mike Charbonneau. AT & T contracted the workers from Lowell, Vazquez said. The workers thought they also might have broken into the storm sewer, Vazquez said. City workers opened sewer caps.

The leak - deep underground - posed a "unique challenge" to NIPSCO responders, Charbonneau said. Crews were turning off gas to the main around 8:30, Charbonneau said. No homes lost gas service, Charbonneau said.

Vazquez said around 6 he expected residents back in their homes by night's end. School City of East Chicago offered four 44-seat buses and the city provided meals at the Clemente center, said John Gillis, the school district's operations director.

Residents were allowed to return to their homes around 10:30 p.m.

Ivy Street resident Shirlee Berry sat on a bus with her four kids. A school city official said food would be served.

"I hope warm food," Berry said with a smile.

At the Broadway Food Shop, owner Cecilia Cruz offered coffee and a restroom to emergency workers.

"They take care of us. We got to take care of them," she said. "They evacuated where I live, so I can't go home anyway."