NEW GLOUCESTER – Police evacuated a one-mile radius at White’s Corner on Thursday after a propane truck rolled on its side on Route 100.

The southbound tanker, carrying 9,800 gallons of propane gas, swerved to avoid hitting a small car entering from Gloucester Hill Road just before noon, police said.

Both vehicles landed in a ditch in the southbound lane of Route 100, the truck on its side.

Neither driver was injured and there was no apparent leakage. State Police closed the road for roughly 11 hours while the propane was transferred to another truck. Police said the road was expected to open at 11 p.m. Thursday.

“It’s a God-given miracle that no one was killed or hurt,” said Cumberland County Deputy Sheriff Jim Ambrose.

The truck was driven by Michael Simpson, 39, of Standish, and operated out of J.P. Noonan Transportation’s Baldwin, Maine, terminal. The trucking company is based in Hooksett, N.H.

The Ford Escort station wagon involved was operated by Annetta Weinhardt, 75, of New Gloucester.

State police spokesman Steve McCausland said the accident was caused by the car pulling out of Gloucester Hill Road but there were no violations.

When Weinhardt was reached by phone at home later in the day, she said the accident happened so fast, she had little time to think, except to move her vehicle out of the way.

“I had left Upper Gloucester Road and was on Route 100. I was heading to Gray for an errand. I heard a loud honk and this monstrous truck was bearing down on me from behind. I turned my wheel. My car flew off and went into the trees. The truck made a big gash in my car above the rear tire,” she said.

Weinhardt said she crawled out of her car, remembering to take her pocketbook, but forgot her mail. Maine State Police transported her home.

“I spent the afternoon on the couch reading,” she said.

About 100 homes were affected and New Gloucester Fire and Rescue volunteers went door to door notifying people. By evening a shelter was set up at the AMVET Post 6 Hall in Upper Gloucester and Salvation Army service teams were on site. But New Gloucester Town Office personnel said no request had been made for shelter facilities by late afternoon.

Traffic was diverted along Morse Road after some drivers failed to heed barriers restricting traffic. Route 100 was sealed off to traffic from the Morse Road to the Bennett Road.

Emergency workers were unsure how long it would take to transfer the propane to another truck, which was dispatched from a Hooksett, N.H., terminal to New Gloucester and was expected to take more than two hours to arrive at the scene.

“We have to be careful and cautious when off-loading propane,” said Anne Marie Brett, deputy director of the Emergency Management Agency of Windham. “It’s a volatile product.”

Brett’s department responded to the crash by forming a team with a variety of municipal agencies. New Gloucester, Gray, the Presumpscot Valley Hazardous Material Unit, Windham and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection were coordinated a work plan to minimize damage.

The power grid to the area was shut off by late afternoon to prevent any possibility of combustion that could be caused by a spark.

The Haz Mat team spread foam over the area, laid protective cover over a nearby stream and brought water tankers to the site as a precaution.

Steve Libby, chairman of the New Gloucester Board of Selectmen, said more than a dozen communities responded: Gray, Cumberland, Falmouth, Westbrook, Scarborough, Standish, Gorham, Pownal, Poland, Durham, North Yarmouth, Raymond and Windham.