BREAKING NEWS - NYC - STRANGE ODOR - EVACUATIONS

nobackspacebutton · Post by **nobackspacebutton** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:43 am

So far they say it isn't terrorist related..

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16524813/

NYC gas smell shuts trains, forces evacuations
Police investigate odor; N.J. mayor reportedly told of gas leak in Manhattan

BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 9 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The smell of gas throughout much of Manhattan forced the evacuation of buildings and the suspension of a commuter train service on Monday, authorities and media reported.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

“We are getting several calls of a foul odor. Our units are responding. It's in various parts of the city,” a police spokesman said.

The Fire Department began getting calls about the odor around 9 a.m., said spokesman Tim Hinchey. No cause had been identified yet.

There also were unconfirmed reports of a similar smell across the river in New Jersey.

Jersey City mayor’s spokeswoman Maria Pignataro said officials there were told the odor was due to a gas leak in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, just north of Greenwich Village.

Utility officials with Consolidated Edison had no immediate comment.

Trains service halted
Part of the New York-New Jersey PATH commuter train system, which carries 225,000 passengers a day, was shut as a result.

“The service has been suspended between Hoboken and 33rd (Street) and Journal Square and 33rd pending an investigation by Con Ed and the fire department,” PATH spokesman Pasquale Difulco said.

Macy’s, Empire State Building evacuated
Macy’s department store in Midtown was evacuated, according to reports on the WNBC Web site. New York’s CBS affiliate also reported that several Manhattan office buildings and schools were evacuated.

“The smell was very strong. It was very scary,” said Yolanda Van Gemd, an administrator at ASA, a business school near the Empire State Building that was evacuated as a precaution.

Susan Badger, a retiree who lives in Chelsea, said she smelled the gas in the morning and left the apartment building at 27th Street and Eighth Avenue to escape the smell.

“If it’s throughout the whole city, it seems that it must be a lot of gas. It’s really extreme,” she said.

‘We noticed it right away’
Badger initially worried it was coming from another apartment. “It could explode somewhere,” she said.

Bobby Gonzalez, a maintenance worker at the same building, said, “We noticed it right away. It smelled like gas.”

“People are calling left and right from the building, they want to know what is going on.”

He first noticed it at 9 a.m., and said it had dissipated a bit since then.

In August, a gaseous smell hit parts of Queens and Staten Island, sending seven people to the hospital.

Please check back for more on this developing story.

Kasdeja · Post by **Kasdeja** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:46 am

I'm trying to resist a joke about the normal odor of NYC trains...

AutoPilate · Post by **AutoPilate** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:47 am

How can they tell the difference?

nobackspacebutton · Post by **nobackspacebutton** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:48 am

AutoPilate wrote:How can they tell the difference?

awww

meanies lol

Luv2Skydive · Post by **Luv2Skydive** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:00 am

Kasdeja wrote:I'm trying to resist a joke about the normal odor of NYC trains...

LMAO.....me too.

(that karma thing again)

nobackspacebutton · Post by **nobackspacebutton** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:04 am

Try to keep everyone updated on possible terror alerts or whatever and they make fun of NYC being smelly.

lol =P

AutoPilate · Post by **AutoPilate** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:12 am

Yeah, terrorists are doing this.

Killthesmiley · Post by **Killthesmiley** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:30 am

yup always blame it on the terrorist!

OMG MY CHICKEN ISN'T FULLY COOKED! ITS TERRORISTS!

haha (eating lunch btw...)

nobackspacebutton · Post by **nobackspacebutton** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:37 am

omdude its 11:36 and its the terrorists fault!! o.o!