Mysterious Odor Worries NYC; Dead Birds Concern Texas Authorities

A gas-like odor wafted over Manhattan and parts of New Jersey Monday morning, resulting in the evacuations of several buildings and minor disruptions in mass transit systems.

According to spokesman Tim Hinchey, the Fire Department began getting phone calls about the odor around 9:00 this morning. Calls came in from the northern tip of Manhattan down to Greenwich Village and across the Hudson River to New Jersey. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey temporarily suspended several of the PATH commuter train service lines between New Jersey and Manhattan as a precaution.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that there has been no indication the air was unsafe to breathe. "It may be just an unpleasant smell," he said. "Our suggestion is that people should do their best to ventilate areas, open their windows, or turn on any fans until this gas passes."

Bloomberg said that the smell may have resulted from a leak of the chemical mercaptan, which is added to natural gas, which is odorless by itself. But utility crews from Consolidated Edison did not find any abnormal changes in the gas transmission system, according to spokesman Chris Olert. "If there was a big lea, we would see a change in the gas flow," he said.

While New Yorkers were busy testing the air over Manhattan on Monday, officials in Austin, Texas, were also performing air quality tests. A large part of the downtown area was shut down after dozens of dead birds were discovered near the state capitol. Hazmat crews dressed in hazardous-materials suits patrolled a 10-block area to search, and about 60 dead pigeons, sparrows, and grackles were collected. The birds will be tested to try to determine what killed them. According to officials, preliminary air-quality tests showed no dangerous chemicals.

Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald held a news conference Monday afternoon to reassure the public. "We have no information that leads us to believe that there is any threat," he told reporters. "We are going to be conducting further analysis to determine exactly what happened to the birds."

Adolfo Valadez, medical director for Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services, said that some of the dead birds will be sent to the CDC in Atlanta and Texas A&M University for further testing to look for signs of poisoning or viral infections, although he said the possibility of "bird flu" being the cause is a remote one.

"What we’re asking citizens to do, if they do find a dead bird in their yard or several dead birds, they can call 3-1-1," Valadez said. "We will take the information, and then our animal control authorities will follow up on that call."