BETHESDA, Md. – Residents at an apartment complex got a rude awakening when they were sent to a nearby supermarket early Sunday morning.

It’s all because a woman drove into a commercial-grade gas meter in the middle of the apartment complex and then fled the scene.

A witness told WTOP that she saw a woman crash into the gas meter, which sits right below her apartment window.  Gas started filling her apartment and she called 911, thinking the driver was unconscious.

But she was fine — the witness said a man she seemed to know helped her back into her car, and she then drove away.

Montgomery County fire crews got to the complex, which sits at the corner of Bradley Boulevard and Fairfax Road, and evacuated the complex to the nearby Safeway supermarket down the street.

Residents spent more than two hours at the supermarket, while fire crews and the gas company shut off gas.  Everyone was allowed to go back home at around 5 a.m., however residents were left without heat while a more permanent repair gets made.

No word on the status of the driver who hit the meter.