By  John McDevitt

FOLSOM, N.J. (CBS) — Crews from natural gas utilities are  making their way through communities on South Jersey’s barrier islands cut off by the hurricane.

South Jersey Gas company crews have been surveying the locations of natural gas leaks on the barrier islands of Atlantic and Cape May counties.

“We haven’t really found any great problems where we have done our surveying, which is very fortunate,” says South Jersey Gas spokeswoman Joanne Brigandi, describing how the surveys are done.

“We have equipment that is able to detect gas, and we run that equipment over all of our mains in the street and also the services that run from the street to the property, like a home or a business,” she explained.

As property owners make their way into flooded areas, the utility is urging them to leave the premises and call the gas company immediately if the smell of gas is evident.