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Brooklyn Smells Gnarly Today Thanks To Collapsed Manhole
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Jul 20, 2011
Modified Jul 20, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Jul 20, 2011
Modified Jul 20, 2011
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If there's one thing that's inevitable about summer in the city, it's that things will smell bad. Hot trash smells bad. Hot people smell bad. Hot subways smell bad, But today, something smelled really, exceptionally bad all over Brooklyn. What's the deal?
Complaints have been rolling in from all over Brooklyn since this morning. Brooklyn Based started collecting tweets from Cortelyou, Crown Heights and Park Slope this morning, and so did commentors on Reddit, some of whom even managed to bring Liz Lemon into the mix (plus five).
Our own sources in Williamsburg and Bushwick today chimed in, writing:
"I smelled it first when I was walking to the J/M/Z at Myrtle-Broadway around 9 this morning. At first I figured 'Oh, Bushwick just smells again,' but then it stayed even after I got on the train. It was like rotten eggs."
"I live off the Lorimer stop and I noticed it this morning while getting ready for work. Definitely smelled it my living room and at first I thought it was coming from inside the apartment. I'm not sure exactly where it's coming from, but it's pretty gnarly, definitely like sulphur. I shut all my windows so it wouldn't filter into my apartment while I'm at work, but we'll see if that helped. There were also cones along the sidewalk near outside of my apartment- so maybe construction work is the cause? Excessive heat? I'd like to know so it can be resolved."
"It stinks. I know some people are saying sulfur, but to me it was like raw sewage. And it was penetrating. The shit-like smell wafted in the M train from Bushwick to Williamsburg. When the doors opened at Marcy, still smelly. I prefer the days of maple syrup."
We put in a call to the Department of Environmental Protection, who, after checking with different units across the borough, were unable to come up with any odor complaints, though we'll update if they do. Just keep your fingers crossed that it's not the precursor to a giant man-eating sinkhole, because that already happened once today.
UPDATE: The DEP has informed us that last night, a sewer did indeed collapse at Putnam Ave and Patchen Ave in Bed-Stuy. They have been working repair the manhole stack since last night, a process which involves pumping out the sewer at the scene of the collapse. As of 5:30 on Wednesday, they were still working.
Tagged
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department environmental protection
gross
odor
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stench
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Jamie Feldmar
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