PINE GROVE — Residents were allowed to safely return home after emergency officials ordered an evacuation in southwestern St. Helena Parish on Saturday due to a pipeline blowout. Shaking was felt a dozen miles away.

"My entire house shook like a bomb went off," said Donald Fry, who lives about a quarter-mile away from the blast site. "We're getting out of here in case there is a gas leak."

Law enforcement officers said the scene was along Nesom Road between Pine Grove in St. Helena Parish and Watson in northern Livingston Parish. Officials said a pressure buildup in a natural gas line caused the blowout.

Carey Dover, who lives west of Greensburg about 10 miles from the blast site, wrote to WBRZ to report feeling the blast.

"I felt the boom and it rattled floors and windows," Dover wrote. "I am between 12 to 15 miles as the crow flies.

"I called the St. Helena Sheriff's Office literally within 1.5 minutes after the boom to find out it was a pipeline explosion," Dover wrote. "I thought it was the pipeline behind our property. That's how close it sounded."  

The Hillsdale Volunteer Fire Department and St. Helena Fire District No. 5 said they were telling people near the blast site to leave their homes.

About 20 minutes after the explosion, residents said it seemed the pipeline was still leaking.

"It sounds like a jet engine," Fry said as he drove away.