Mysterious Odor Brings Out Police and Fire

A mysterious odor that reminds me of a gas leak has sent people out into the streets around Hudson Street, Clarkson, and the surrounding area. There's currently street construction at the corner of Hudson and Houston Street along with Third Water Tunnel construction on the block.

Developing.

UPDATE:
Still no word on the source, but reports indicate that the smell originated in Midtown and wafted down this way. Gothamist has the incident on its map feature.

UPDATE:
Anonymous emailer sends along this link that has more details on this incident. It's far more widespread, affecting PATH service, and causing hassles for large parts of Manhattan, and even into New Jersey.

Reports indicate the odor is widespread throughout Manhattan, from Battery Park City to Upper Manhattan. The odor has been reported to be particularly strong around Herald Square and in NY1's neighborhood in Chelsea.

Some buildings throughout the city have reportedly been evacuated. PATH train service has been suspended between 33rd Street in Manhattan and Journal Square in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Transit website says that they will cross-honor PATH 33rd St. Line customers at Newark, Secaucus and New York Penn Station.

The Associated Press reports a similar odor across the Hudson in New Jersey.

UPDATE:
Mayor Bloomberg is going to hold a presser to address concerns about the mysterious gas smell. Con Ed says that there are no leaks.

I think it might actually be related to the combination of warm weather, the heavy rain, and sewer gas that will ultimately account for the widespread smells that caused evacuations of schools, buildings, and even the closure of PATH trains for a time this morning.

UPDATE:
Gothamist reports that ABC and Fox are reporting that the smell of gas may have originated with a large gas leak at Bleecker and West 4th Streets (that's part of Village for non-NYCers), though other reports indicate an area closer to St. Vincent's Hospital (7th Avenue and 13th St.). Still working to confirm.

UPDATE:
Still no closer to finding out the source of the smell. Reports of sensing the smell are literally all over the map. The NYPD says that there's no harm from the odor. That is certainly comforting, though the whole situation was unsettling for some as they were told to evacuate buildings and PATH to 33rd Street was shut down for a time.

UPDATE:
Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard proffers an interesting theory that Con Ed may have had a problem with the amount of methyl mercaptan inserted into the gas stream to identify leaks such that there was too much and it would not be burned off in the natural combustion process.

Above the Law and Hot Air also comment.

UPDATE:
There's still no clue as to the origin of the smell today, but it still has people talking including: The Moderate Voice, and Scared Monkeys and Wake Up America both mention the NYC mystery odor in relation to the Austin, Texas bird kill.

Technorati: mystery odor, nyc, con ed.