Three families were evacuated from an apartment on the corner of Main and Washington streets after a gas leak.

Vectren crews were requested around 1 a.m. Friday to repair the leak, which is reportedly in a construction zone in the area, according to dispatchers. As of 11 a.m. crews were still repairing the leak.

Firefighters said the wind was blowing the gas into the apartment building, which forced them to evacuate the people living inside.

The dozen or so residents who were forced to evacuate will be asked to stay away from their residences for at least another two hours.

Most of those people are staying at a Red Cross shelter set up at the Tri-Village rescue building.

“We got a call last night that someone had detected an outside odor,” said Vectren spokesperson Chase Kelley. “We immediately dispatched a service technician and found a gas outside and inside the complex.

“We made the decision to evacuate,” she said. “There’s probably about six or seven units in the complex.

Kelley told News Center 7 crews found the general location of the leak was traced back to a three-inch steel gas main at the back of the complex.

The leak is “isolated,” Kelley said, and unrelated to a major project already underway to replace older gas mains with plastic mains.