(Ed.'s Note: Municipal employees at City Plaza were ordered to evacuate the building after a strong odor of gas permeated the building. Public Utility Board workers discovered that a crew digging on 11th Street between the abandoned El Jardin Hotel and the city parking structure struck a gas line. The city workers were moved to the city parking lot across 10th Street because the one across St. Charles from City Plaza was too close.
The evacuation order was lifted after crews shut off the gas line and the workers returned to work.
We have been told by someone who knows that natural gas has no smell, and that what the city workers were smelling was actually the skunk gas that is injected in gas to allow people to detect its presence. That's why long after the gas was turned off, the smell of "gas" lingered. Thanks to one of our readers for the photo.)
