The Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety has called a voluntary evacuation for part of the city  because of what a spokesman terms a very large gas main break.

Spokesman John Francis with the department told KOB-TV that the area being evacuated is east and west of Unser Boulevard between Northern and Abrazo. He estimated that there are several hundred homes in that area.

Evacuees can go to a temporary shelter set up at the Methodist church at Abrazo and Tulip.

Public Service Company of New Mexico crews told Rio Rancho DPS that it will be some time before everything is cleared out, according to Francis. The break happened around 11:30 a.m., Francis told the Journal's Rozanna Martinez.

The leak in a 16-inch gas line is along Unser between Abrazo and Golden, an area that Francis said has a lot of road construction, Eyewitness News 4 reported.