Houston City Hall evacuated due to gas lead

HOUSTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The City Hall of Houston, Texas, the United States, was forced evacuation around noon time on Friday because of the leak of gas.

Houston Fire Department (HFD) units arrived on the scene and briefly blocked adjacent streets. According to HFD, it was unclear at the moment whether the leak had been addressed at its source or whether the pipes had simply been closed off.

The lower levels of the city hall and its adjacent annex took heavy damage during Hurricane Harvey when flooding water topped the complex's floodgates, and workers have been active on site since the storm, including earlier Friday morning.

Harvey blew ashore on Aug. 25 as the most powerful hurricane hitting Texas in more than 50 years, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and damaging some 200,000 homes in a path of destruction that stretches for more than 500 km. The Houston area has been devastated by severe flooding, after receiving heavy rain. Enditem