Results tagged “evacuation”

We've received multiple reports that the Port Authority Bus Terminal is currently "on lock down" because of a suspicious package. A reader tells us there are "cops with M4s, and people being evacuated." Another reports "limited access from the subway level." We'll keep you posted as the situation develops. Update: The emergency response team is "already out of the area," according to one witness.

A tipster from 119 West 23rd Street just wrote in saying the building was evacuated earlier this afternoon for over in hour in what was originally thought to be a gas leak. She writes: "So all us employees at Tekserve (and the offices above) were just evacuated for about an hour after a stinky rotten egg smell permeated the building. Thought it might be a gas leak, but it turns out that someone at the salon on one of the upper floors poured some heavy-duty professional-grade drain cleaner in the pipes. Incorrectly." Woops. The fumes aren't dangerous, but Sarah Lewitinn (aka Ultragrrrl) was also in the building at the time and panic-Twittered about some of the side effects: "My lips feel numb and weird as do my legs. Lightheaded. Not cool. TELL PPL THERE'S A GASLEAK!" UPDATE: Lewitinn says several people in the building are sick, and worries that it may have been something harmful leaking. And given that Con Ed might be involved, she may have reason to be!

The alert about a "suspicious package" at JFK Airport said there were hand grenades in a piece of luggage. The JetBlue terminal was evacuated, only for the grenades to turn out to be World War II grenade replica paperweights. Next time, mail them! JetBlue is having an opening ceremony for its new Terminal 5 today. And yesterday, a Newark Airport terminal was evacuated after many "false positives" on a suspicious bag, which was eventually deemed safe.

A week after the illegally converted-for-residential use warehouse 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg was evacuated by city agencies, due to building violations including an illegal matzoh bakery (and combustible grains being stored in the basement), the building will be padlocked this afternoon at 4PM. There will be a "solemn observance of the shutting of a great arts community," according to a press release we received. More details:

Come and show your support for the 200+ displaced tenants of 475 and the live/work community as a whole.

Continue reading "475 Kent Avenue to be Padlocked at 4PM"

New York City officials are planning for a Dunkirk-like evacuation of Manhattan island in the case of an emergency. In the early days of World War II, a "bathtub navy" was assembled between Dunkirk, France and Dover, England, in order to move hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Continent to safer ground as the Nazis advanced across France. Hundreds of small craft were sent across the English Channel to ferry stranded and cornered British troops back to England.

Over 150 residents of an eleven-story building at Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg were evacuated yesterday after the Fire Department and Buildings Department found a number of violations. The building had been illegally converted to residences and a matzoh factory, complete with two silos of (highly combustible) grain in the basement. A neighboring building was cited as well, and the violations ranged from non-working standpipes (which firefighters use to deliver water to fires), illegal partitions, blocked exits, inoperable sprinkler systems and others, including the illegal grain silos for the unauthorized basement bakery.

At least a few buildings on or near Mercer Street lost power when a fire or an explosion occurred in a manhole at Mercer and West 3rd Street exploded this morning. The block was closed off by the Fire Department. We hear there were no injuries, but it's unclear what caused the fire. One witness saw a billowing black smoke and said it smelled "acrid, like maybe it's an electrical fire." And contributor Gideon...