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La Habra Crash Ruptures Gas Line, Prompts Several Evacuations

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A suspected drunken driver crashed an SUV into a fence early Friday, rupturing a natural gas line and prompting the evacuations of more than 70 people from 20 homes.

The crash was reported at 9:34 p.m. Thursday in the 500 block of West Fourth Avenue in La Habra, Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Devin Trone said

A utility crew shut off the flow to the broken three-quarter inch steel line at about 1:30 a.m., Denise King of the Southern California Gas Co. said.

Workers intended to cap the broken line, refill the hole in the street they dug to access the line, and return after dawn Friday to complete repairs during daylight hours, King said.

The shut-off left one property without gas service, King said.

The La Habra Community Center at 101 W. La Habra Blvd. was designated as an evacuation center.

A mother and two daughters who felt "weak and dizzy" were taken to a hospital by an ambulance crew at about 1 a.m.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department is contracted to provide service in La Habra, which is in Orange County.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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