Reports of a gas leak led local authorities to evacuate portions of Nash Street in Hillsborough on Tuesday.

Orange County Fire and EMS communications indicated the area was reopened and businesses were being allowed back into their locations around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon.

Hillsborough officials said a two-block area was evacuated just before noon when a piece of heavy equipment ran over a gas meter. That caused a break in a three-inch pipe and led to the evacuation.

The equipment was being used in the conversion of the former mill building at 202 South Nash Street into apartments.

Officials say the gas concentration in the air “was not measured at dangerous levels” leading the evacuation to be lifted within an hour.

A fire in May of last year destroyed a portion of a historic mill in the same area where the gas leak was reported on Tuesday.

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