The gas pipe was fractured on Monday afternoon

Thirty homes close to the scene of the leak in Middlestone Moor, near Spennymoor, have been evacuated.

Howden-le-Wear, Billy Row, Crook, Spennymoor and Willington are also affected. Engineers say the repairs could take some time to complete.

Those evacuated have registered at Spennymoor leisure centre, to make sure they have somewhere to spend the night.

Insp Ian Butler, from Durham Police, said: "It's a very high pressure gas main which has been ruptured.

We need the people in the affected area to be good neighbours, look out for each other, adopt the Dunkirk spirit John O'Grady, Northern Gas Networks

"Because of the risk of explosion, it's going to be a long and painful process to make sure that we secure the scene and prevent any escalation of the situation."

The A688 road has also been closed between Spennymoor and Durham.

John O'Grady, of Northern Gas Networks, said: "We need to make the area safe and the engineers are doing that now.

"Then we need the people in the affected area to be good neighbours, look out for each other, adopt the Dunkirk spirit.

Home visit

"We'll have supplies of hot plates and heaters available. Anyone inconvenienced should contact us.

"This is last thing we wanted to happen and we're working hard to rectify it."

About 40 gas engineers will be working through the night to repair the fractured pipe, according to United Utilities.

A company spokesman said each of the 10,000 homes will receive a visit from an engineer on Monday or Tuesday.

Anyone worried about their situation should call Northern Gas Networks on 0800 111 999.