PORTLAND, Ore. (NewsNation Now) — Emergency crews are responding to a natural gas leak in northwest Portland, evacuating buildings and asking residents to avoid the area.

Portland firefighters were dispatched to the area near NW 8th and NW 11th Avenue between Burnside Street and Davis Street to investigate reports of a gas leak Tuesday morning, NewsNation affiliate KOIN reported.

Portland Fire & Rescue is working with utility companies Pacific Power and NW Natural, and power was shut off for a large portion of the area around 10 a.m. PST. Pacific Power said 2,400 customers are affected as the company makes repairs.

Streets and sidewalks in the area remain closed, and police are helping facilitate the evacuation of buildings.

The Portland Streetcar announced its NS Line was blocked on NW 10th Avenue at NW Couch Street due to the emergency response.

The gas leak comes as many in the Portland area are already without power after an icy weekend winter storm downed a number of power lines.

Portland General Electric’s map of power outages listed about 200,000 customers without electricity, while Pacific Power listed about 20,000 in Salem and the Portland area.

NewsNation affiliate KOIN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.