About 100 residents and staff were evacuated from the Annandale Care Center last week when workers ruptured a natural gas line. The emergency ended safely more than an hour later after the Annandale Fire Department rescue squad cordoned off the area and CenterPoint Energy troubleshooters shut off the leak. A care center resident died during the incident, but her family said it had nothing to do with the evacuation. A lawn sprinkler company machine snagged the underground gas line between the care center and the wellness center under construction north of it about 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, administrator John Nelson said. "As soon as they damaged the gas line we evacuated the residents to our other facility," he said. Staff members moved 56 care center residents and 28 people from the nearby memory care cottages to the complex’s independent apartments and assisted living buildings to the east. "We did evacuate the care center in 10 minutes, which shows our disaster plan works," Nelson said. Residents were first moved out of the care center to a parking lot behind assisted living, he said, then they were moved at the fire department’s direction into the buildings. Gas smell Firefighters arrived to the strong smell of gas on the service road along Highway 24 south of the care center. They closed off the building and service road and monitored the concentrations of gas in the care center and away from the area to make sure there was no buildup. A brisk southwest wind helped dissipate the fumes, according to deputy fire chief Henry Canfield. Fire Chief Brian Haag said later that wind will dissipate gas in the atmosphere, but gas can get into the building through windows and other openings and that’s why the precautionary evacuation was done. Concentrations measured in the building were "quite low," he said, and "the danger level was low." CenterPoint Energy workers arrived shortly after noon and by 12:17 p.m. they had stopped the flow of gas by squeezing the plastic pipe shut. Then they repaired the broken line. CenterPoint will investigate to find out what happened, field services supervisor Mike McLaughlin said. The care center was cleared of the gas odor and by about 1:30 p.m. everybody had returned and operations were back to normal, Nelson said. "I think the staff here performed exceptionally well," he said. To evacuate that many people, especially aged ones, in 10 minutes "I think is exceptional." Lunch to go He also acknowledged the help of The Marketplace and Keaveny Drug. Staff couldn’t get at food that had been prepared for lunch as well as some medications after the care center had been evacuated. So they called The Marketplace, which made up some chicken, potato salad and ice cream to go. Keaveny delivered some medications residents needed. The administrator said he couldn’t discuss a report of a resident’s death because of privacy laws. But Connie Rathje of Annandale confirmed her mother, Donna Jude, 81, died after she and her sister, Peggy Ecker of Sauk Rapids, helped staff move her outside to a maintenance garage during the evacuation. Her death had been imminent, she said, and had nothing to do with the evacuation. Her mother had always been very active and didn’t like the nursing home lifestyle and relative confinement. The sisters believe "she and God had a special connection that day," Rathje said. "We just believe she and God decided this is the place." Afterward, more than 20 staff gathered in her room to say goodbye. "She was greatly loved there," Rathje said.