McKINNEY — Road construction has come to an abrupt halt in an east McKinney neighborhood where construction workers have ruptured two underground gas lines in the past 12 days.

Neighbors' nerves are aleady rattled. The first gas line break on May 17th caused an explosion that destroyed homes and left three people with serious injuries.

McKinney city officials — including Fire Chief Mark Wallace — met Thursday morning with representatives of Atmos Energy and the contractors who are doing the work in the Collin County seat.

They want the gas company and the contractors to come up with a safety plan before they will permit excavation work to continue.

"They done made one mistake; they almost made a second one," said one neighborhood resident. "Who's to say the third one's going to happen, too? You know what I'm saying? Something worse could happen."

The city issued a stop work order Wednesday after a crew grading Seneca Street accidentally hit a tap tied to a gas main, causing a leak.

More than one dozen homeowners and 48 students and teachers at the Holy Family School were evacuated, raising anger and new concerns about safety.

On Thursday , residents applauded the city for halting work until it's safe to continue.

"There should be a way to get through all of this, some kind of way, with everybody being safe," said Lois Williams.

At midday, Atmos Energy technicians were out in the neighborhood this afternoon checking for possible gas leaks.

One neighbor told News 8 that they did detect some explosive vapors in her sewer line. She said that prompted her to evacuate herself from her home on Thursday until there's an all-clear.

E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com