Large Number Of Dead Birds Close Congress Avenue Near Capitol http://kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=5904817 Several blocks of Congress Avenue have been closed off to traffic because a large number of dead birds -- reportedly as many as several dozen -- have been found in the area. And if you work in the area, you're being asked to stay home from work until at least noon. Congress Avenue and one block on either side of the street is shut down from Cesar Chavez to 11th Street until approximately noon. That's because an unusually large number of dead birds were found Monday morning, with most of them concentrated on 9th Street. The birds are now being collected by workers in hazardous-materials suits and will be sent to another agency for further testing to try to find out why they died. "What they are doing is going into the area where the birds are located and gathering additional samples, both from the birds and anything else they can find in that area," said Mike Frick with the Austin Fire Department. The fire department was called out to the area around 3 a.m. on Monday to test if there had been a gas or chlorine leak, but nothing of that nature was found. However, further precautionary testing is ongoing, and fire officials are requesting that individuals that work in this area not to come in until further notice. "What the police department has done at this time is shut down Congress [Avenue] at First/Cesar Chavez, as well as one block on either side. We are asking people that work in the area not to come in, because they are not allowed in the area," said Toni Chovanetz with the Austin Police Department. Several different groups are on the scene, including APD, AFD and the 6th Civil Support Team. That team supports local first-responders and helps determine the nature of an emergency situation.
I'm playing Condemned on the Xbox 360 right now. That is an integral part of the story line of that very creepy game. Weird.
i'm loving this! sitting in my pj's, eating cap'n crunch, listening to a derek and the dominos filmore show... they need to shut congress down more often.
Only in Austin would they shut part of the city down because of a few dead birds. Just drive with the AC on recirculate and you'll be fine...
this should warrant the closing of businesses across America! we need to get to the bottom of this and Americans should not be at work this Monday! meanwhile, a mystery gas permeates Manhattan
Something happened like that in Houston where they found a bunch of dead birds in the Hong Kong food market parking lot. It turned out someone just ran them over because those birds got accustomed to cars being around and didn't bother to dodge the car.
Well, people in Austin don't drive fast enough to kill a bird, so that's definitely not the case here...
I'm really surprised they lasted in the parking lot long enough to be noticed. I would think they would have ended up in a dish of dumplings as soon as it happened.
Local news is saying that 40 to 60 dead birds were found by A.P.D. at 03:00 hours on Congress close to the capital.
...or morons on cell phones. Those two would cover about 100%, I'm pretty sure. Are the buses running? 6th and Congress is the hub for almost all local routes... I'm just wondering if I can find a way to skip out on work too...
But we have a deal with the birds, don't we? They get out of the way and we look the other way on the statue defecation.
Mystery solved!!! 75% died by being hit by novice frisbee golfers. 10% by ingesting old Birkenstock leather 10% due to the 5 foot long I-35 entrance ramps 5% died trying to figure out why Mopac is supposed to make their lives easier.
i blame the san antonio and dallas transplants. thankfully there are enough houstonians here or it would be total chaos. anyone who learned to drive in houston has skillz.
Awesome. But you forgot the % who died because they wouldn't shut up about how Austin is so much better than any other place on the planet.
Nah, the Houston drivers are the morons on cell phones that I spoke of earlier. The p***y drivers are indeed the SA and Dallas folks, though. But, with all things considered, Austin is so much better than any other place on the planet.
