A disaster averted Thursday morning in Union City when crews working on a water main accidentally struck a gas line, sending a combination of both elements shooting into the air.

Hundreds of people had to be rushed away from the scene.

"It made me feel afraid," said Esther Mendoza, who was just one of around 700 people told to leave the area because of the rupture.

"It was a 20-inch main they hit so it caused a big disruption in the area. Lot of panic and very noisy like an airplane engine," said Deputy Chief Marc Franco, of the North Hudson Regional Fire.

It happened after 9 a.m. at the intersection of Summit Avenue and 26th Street in Union City.

The moment of impact happened just out of view of a security camera outside of Player's Barbershop. On that video, workers can be seen backing away from the strike, then a few minutes later, firefighters going door-to-door, evacuating folks like Mendoza.

"The police say they have to go right away leave the house," said Mendoza.

According to a spokesperson from Veolia Water, crews were working at this intersection on a routine repair when they struck a gas line that was mislabeled by PSE&G and ruptured it. PSE&G said it would not comment on that claim until the investigation is complete.

"It might have been good because it dispersed some of the vapors possibly into the air since it's lighter than air it rises might have been a good thing actually," added Deputy Chief Franco.

By noon, crews turned off the water and gas combination, and repairs on both lines continued into the afternoon. All 700 evacuees, including people forced out of two schools, were all allowed to return.

Veolia Water completed repairs on the water main by 2 p.m., allowing crews from PSE&G to start fixing the broken gas line. No one was hurt.

"It could have been a lot worse. We were lucky today and everybody did a great job," said Franco.