A ruptured natural gas main forced the evacuation of about 15 Gilroy homes Thursday morning and shut down Santa Teresa Boulevard for about a mile, according to the Gilroy Fire Department.

Division Chief Clay Bentson said a construction crew working at Santa Teresa Boulevard and Longmeadow Drive sliced into the four-inch plastic pipe with a backhoe about 11:15 a.m.

Santa Teresa Boulevard was shut down between Sunrise Drive and Mantelli Way, and residents were evacuated as a precaution, Bentson said.

However, despite a strong smell of gas, neither the fire department nor workers from Pacific Gas & Electric detected any amount of gas that would have posed a danger, Bentson said.

Santa Teresa Boulevard was reopened about 1:30 p.m.

Distributed by the Associated Press