The fire department told residents on Hazard near Indiana to shelter in place once the leak was discovered.
Officials said it all started when lightning hit a transformer. Wires from the transformer landed on two cars and became energized, then started to burn.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze from a distance due to concerns the fire would suddenly grow. The flames from the vehicles were so intense they caused some of the concrete to break off, exposing a gas line and creating a leak.
CenterPoint Energy shut down the entire electrical grid in the area as a precaution, and it took crews more than three hours to repair the leak.
No injuries were reported.
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