Interstate 5 closed near Los Angeles due to gas line rupture

Interstate 5 was closed indefinitely and a shelter-in-place imposed after a gas line rupture north of Los Angeles.

A natural gas line ruptured north of Los Angeles on the afternoon of Saturday Dec. 27, shutting down portions of Interstate 5, a heavily trafficked north-south route.  

The freeway was closed indefinitely, and a shelter-in-place was in effect in parts of northern Los Angeles County near Castaic, California, officials said.

The California Department of Transportation’s local district said the hazmat incident fully closed Interstate 5 between S.R. 138 and S.R. 126. “AVOID THE AREA, seek alternate routes,” Caltrans said in an X post. “No estimated time of reopening.”

News outlets reported that the Los Angeles County Fire Department received multiple reports of an explosion at around 4:20 p.m. local time.

The cause of the leak wasn’t immediately known.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said he had been briefed on the commercial pipeline rupture and state emergency services officials were responding to the scene.

Nearby communities instituted a shelter-in-place order. County officials ordered residents to close all doors, windows and vents, and to shut of HVAC systems.

The smell from the natural gas leak reached miles away in the San Fernando Valley, within Los Angeles city limits, according to a city fire department alert.