NYC Mayor: No Danger From Strange Odor

Authorities continued to investigate the source of a mysterious gas-like odor Monday that wafted over a large part of Manhattan and across the Hudson River to nearby New Jersey.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the odor was unpleasant but not dangerous. Federal authorities said that terrorism was not suspected.

"There is no danger from the gas at this point," Bloomberg said.

He said there was no indication that the air was unsafe to breathe, and that the city's sensors did not show an unusually high concentration of natural gas.

"We are waiting for the gas to pass," the mayor said.

There was a small gas leak in Greenwich Village, but it wouldn't have been enough to account for the pervasive odor, Bloomberg said. He said the smell may have resulted from a leak of the chemical mercaptan, which is added to natural gas to produce its easily recognizable odor. By itself, natural gas is odorless.

The odor set off concern around the city, disrupting some transit service, prompting office buildings to evacuate and leading hundreds of people to flood 911 dispatchers to figure out what was happening.

Terrorism was not a concern, a federal official said.

"It is still early but there is no indication of terrorism and there is no credible intelligence to suggest any imminent threat to the homeland or to New York at this time," said Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

He said the agency was closely monitoring the situation and talking with the local authorities, who are the lead in the matter.

The Fire Department began getting calls about the odor around 9 a.m., said spokesman Tim Hinchey. The cause was not immediately identified.

Some businesses in Manhattan and directly across the Hudson River in Jersey City were evacuated along with several schools, CBS News correspondent Karen Brown reports. Other businesses shut down air supply fans to keep the odor from getting into buildings.

"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.

Crews from utility company Consolidated Edison were investigating, but they had found no abnormal changes in the gas flow with in its transmission system, said spokesman Chris Olert. "If there was a big leak, we would see a change in the gas flow," he said.

Olert said the company fielded hundreds of calls from people concerned about the odor, from as far north as Washington Heights to as far south as Greenwich Village and as far east as Lexington Avenue.

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.

Susan Badger, a retiree who lives in Chelsea, said she smelled the substance 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.

Tim Morrin, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said winds were fairly light, about 5-10 mph, coming from the south/southwest. He said the wind direction will shift at noon to a northerly direction.

"Wherever the source is ... the wind direction would be blowing from south-southwest to a northerly direction," Morrin said.

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