A gas leak at the corner of Third Street and Washington Street Tuesday morning caused the Casper Surgical Center to cancel more than 20 of the surgeries it had scheduled for the day, said Jim Sigler, administrator for the center.

The Wyoming Medical Center is in the process of relocating the utilities on Washington Street as part of its complex expansion project that began several weeks ago. During the relocation, an excavator hit a natural gas main line, causing gas to spill out into the air about 8:30 a.m.

The Casper Surgical Center, the McMurry Medical Arts Building and the Support Services building for the hospital were all evacuated.

Employees from Kinder Morgan, Inc. patched the pipe up by 11:45 a.m., stopped the leak and everyone evacuated was able to return to the buildings, according to Mike Phillips, spokesman for the hopsital.

For more of this and other stories read Wednesday's Casper Star-Tribune.