Severe Weather New Jersey (intense bad odor)

Well there's a Sever Thunderstorm advisory in New Jersey. I live in Elizabeth near a phillips 66 plant.

So while on ATS listening and reading about the events at Boston, the power suddenly go's out. As I look out my window it seems that the whole city was out. I decide to go out to my porch with my dad (the power comes back on fully about 5 seconds after it went out).

There seemed to be some sort of lightning coming form the back of my house. No ordinary lightning though, it was just flickering, no thunder or anything. The wind was quiet, cars where quiet, planes were quiet. It seemed as if the world froze/glitched for a second. The lightning and everything reminded me of War of The Worlds.

Anyway, here is the main purpose of this thread:
I go back inside, and go back out 5 minutes after. Once I am outside, there is this giant smell of death! It smells like propane gas, but with the smell of rotting flesh. It was unbearable and I barely lasted being outside for 30 seconds!

We take shelter inside and decide to go back out around 7 minutes later. The passageway tot eh exit smells like an animal died. The smell outside seemed to decreased a bit. I noticed the sound of an alarm and I think it was coming from the Phillips66 plant. The wind picks up and the smell comes back forcing us back inside (Police sirens where heard heading the direction of the plant).

When it starts raining hard we head outside once more, but this time the smell was gone. I also noticed that the flames from the plant seemed a bit brighter larger than usual.

My question is, could some sort of chemical escaped from the plant? That's really the whole purpose of this thread, the very bad smell and possibility of it being a hazardous chemical.

This is a current event here, this has all seemed to have calmed now. But I am still wondering about the terrible odor and possibility of chemicals and the plant being involved. This week of April has certainly been wild....

Does the lightning have a weird hum to it?

When you run a glass of water, does it have a fishy (literally fishy) smell to it?

Originally posted by Kuroodo

Anyway, here is the main purpose of this thread:
I go back inside, and go back out 5 minutes after. Once I am outside, there is this giant smell of death! It smells like propane gas, but with the smell of rotting flesh. It was unbearable and I barely lasted being outside for 30 seconds!

Maybe the majority of 66 seals is broken and the whole hell is about to break lose. Apocalypse is near

reply to post by tropic


No, it was absolute silence. It was bright as f** too!

Edit: About the water, right now it seems normal. Im not sure of how it would of smelled before though. This happened around 10:20 or so

reply to post by Telos


The end times have come u__u

Did you report it to your power company and gas company and local officials?

That is what I would have done first and foremost for the safety of your family.

Also,they usually have some type of warning system in place to notify neighborhoods close to chemical plants.

We had one recently were they notified the communities affected to either stay where they are or evacuate.Check you local news.

Peace,
K

Checked out Doppler, it looks like all of the east coast is going to get wet.
Hope you get power back soon!

Maybe its the official story coming out of boston...I have heard people say the story stinks to high heaven

On topic: I put this thread up a few weeks ago about a foul odor coming off the coast of California, it appeared it was a "natural process" in the ocean. Could be the same kind of thing?www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think Lil Kim visited the restroom again...he always does this!

There are many reports of a huge boom and shaking in CT and NY, but no one can seem to find any reason but thunder.

Edit: Ignore this reply xD

I grew up in Elizabeth, NJ, on Thomas Street between Bayway and Linden in very close proximity (memory fails but I'd guess within about 25 blocks) to the Exxon refinery. I'm not sure if that's still there or not.Or where the Phillips 66 is. I was very young but distinctly remember three separate times when noxious, awful smelling "stuff" was released from the plant in the middle of the night and that it literally turned our white house brown. I believe that once they even paid to repaint some of the homes in the area. The funny thing was that none of the adults seemed to make a big deal of what to me seemed like a horrific thing. They just repainted their houses and went on with life. Weird memory.

P.S. I don't remember thunder but I do remember flashes of those fiery things that came out of some of the humongeous tanks.

I have heard the Jersey Stinks Like Holy Hell. So there you have it.

On a more aromatic note. .. Sometimes air can have more of an odor to it when there is allot of humidity or moisture in the air. It also depends on the air currents.

I have lived up north of Seattle, near the town of Anacortes, WA and there is a refinery there that has, on occasion, released some pretty smelly stuff into the air. Usually their flare stack has a small-medium flame but there are times when a emergency burn-off of something occurs and the flame can get pretty intense. Perhaps this is what you saw as far as the flames go. The lightning, are you sure it wasn't sheet lightning causing the flickering and lingering flashes?

reply to post by Kuroodo


I am in Newark, NJ and I have a sorta confirmation fo the odor you reported. Like couple of weeks ago I came back from my job, taking route 21. As you may know, the Passaic River goes paralel with the road.

When I was leaving Belleville and entering to Newark I started to feel that bad odor, like a dead rat or excrement and it continued all the way to home.

My wife came later and before I have a chance to say something about it, she told me about the strong bad odor too (she works in Newark, few blocks from R.21 too, so she was exposed to that odor all the time). She said she felt the odor for few days, now she is taking antibiotics and other medicines for a respiratory problem developed after those days, not saying it is connected to the odor. (don't worry, she's getting better now).

Now you made me think if it can be gas leak from unknown source. I think we, ATS NJ residents, should be monitoring it if needed and keep in touch.

I hope there is a reasonable explanation.

reply to post by Kuroodo




But seriously. What the deuce is going on?

Not saying this is what you experienced, but when I was about 10 years old, there was a loud boom followed by an immediate power outage. Upon going outside to survey the neighborhood, there was an intense smell of burning hair and dead animal. Turns out a raccoon chewed through some cables he shouldn't have, and was a smoldering hunk of death in my neighbor's back yard. Maybe there's more to your situation, but I'd try and rule out any crispy critters first.

Could it be the thunder scared a skunk near you. That smell you described sounds similar to how skunk spray smells. Just me throwing out another random possibility.

reply to post by Kuroodo


You would think your news media would have reported the terrible smell everyone was experiencing. I would think it's your local news medias duty to inform the public of any hazardous or nonhazardous chemicals that may have been released over populated areas. If they haven't, you should give them a call and the local fire department and have them give you some answers. Who knows if this chemical smell could be dangerous?

reply to post by Kuroodo


There is a chance you could get an answer regarding the refinery through one of the contacts listed Here