A gas leak forces evacuations in Manhattan.

Con Edison responded to 19th Street and 10th Avenue in Chelsea at about 9 a.m. Monday.

The utility says a contractor hit a high-pressure gas line while he was digging.

Crews quickly capped the leak, but surrounding streets were blocked off for hours.

Some residents were also evacuated from a nearby condo.

"I heard a big loud noise and a lot of smoke or dust flying and I'm not quite sure what it was. I was there for another half hour until I see lots of people running around and telling people you have to shut off your car and you have to move," said one neighbor.

"I smelled it this morning in my apartment and the next thing I know I had a panicked knock on the door as I was working from home and grabbed my dogs, my cell phone and out the door," said another.

No injuries or outages were reported.