GAS ODOR IN NYC AND AUSTIN, TERRORISM DRILL?

January 8, 2007 by support.

NEW YORK — The NYC mayor said on Monday that a strong odor permeating Manhattan and parts of New Jersey was apparently harmless after initial fears disrupted transit and caused evacuations. “It is still early but in a post 9/11 world, we can’t rule out Al-qaeda time,” said Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. He said the agency is closely monitoring the situation and talking with the local authorities, who are the lead in the matter.Four city schools were evacuated due to the smell, but have since been let back in. PATH service had been suspended into the 33rd Street station as a result of the odor, although the service has since been restored.The Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street did not open until 10 a.m. The store said employees who had arrived earlier were allowed to leave the building if they chose.”The smell was very strong. It was very scary,” said Yolanda Van Gemd, an administrator at ASA, a business school at Broadway and 34th Street, which was evacuated as a precaution.The Fire Department began getting calls about the odor around 9 a.m., said spokesman Tim Hinchey.Residents and workers between Midtown and Battery Park said they could smell the odor, which was also prevalent in New Jersey.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. 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.At NBC headquarters in Rockefeller Plaza, the odor was very strong. One person who works on the sixth floor at 30 Rockefeller Center said it was so strong that people are leaving the building.At one major office building at 37th and 7th, employees have been told that Con Edison is looking into a smell, and they should remain inside until they hear otherwise. In August, a gaseous smell hit parts of Queens and Staten Island, sending seven people to the hospital. Consolidated Edison officials had no immediate comment.

A gas smell was also in Austin today, causing the

whole city to be shut down.

Is this some kind of terrorism drill going on here?

There have been rumors of a big earth shift happening

on sunday. That could cause all the pipes underground

to crack.

What do you think is going on?

Posted in NEWS | No Comments »