Confusion as neighbours told to leave their homes 'all of a sudden' following gas leak

There was confusion as residents in a Rochdale neighbourhood were urged to leave their homes in the bitter cold. Emergency services swarmed Deeplish at around 4pm today (January 18) following reports of a gas leak.

For most residents near to the junction of Milkstone Road, Deeplish Road and Derby Street, it was a knock at the door which warned them something was wrong. Eyewitnesses saw police, fire engines and Cadent gas engineers descend on their community.

Moments later, they were urged to evacuate and head for warmth at nearby Deeplish Primary School. A 50 metre cordon was put in place, before the source of the gas leak was found to be a fractured gas main, causing the smell of gas to make its way into a house.

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Milkstone Road resident Kayam Hussain told the Manchester Evening News: "We'd come back from work, the police and everyone were here. They asked how we were and they said there's been a gas leak, but it might not be too bad.

"But then we got another knock on the door telling us to evacuate, it's quite dangerous. We were a bit confused, we didn't know what to take. Our neighbours have cats and pets, they didn't know what to do.

"We were told to go to Deeplish Primary School. We were told we could come back at around 6.30pm... they said it was being fixed so they were starting to let people back in and started opening the roads."

Before 7pm, Cadent engineers were allowing people back into their homes property by property, with a safety check at each resident's gas meter first. Zenie Shahid, a Deeplish Road resident, admitted the ordeal was 'a little bit' scary.

"At first we didn't know what was going on," she said. "But then once we were there