New Orleans City Hall was hit with a suspected gas leak leading to an evacuation on Wednesday, according to FOX 8 Live. The scare happened just before 3 p.m., prompting officials to order all employees out of the building until the New Orleans Fire Department could investigate the issue. After thorough examination, no specific issues were confirmed, and City Hall was shut down for the remainder of the day.

The following day, a persistent and unexplained smell continued to plague parts of the building. As a result, sections of City Hall were declared off-limits, "The offices located in the West Wing of the First Floor of City Hall are closed to the public as of Thursday, Sept. 5, at 10 a.m., inclusive of the Bureaus of Revenue and Treasury, the Office of the Registrar of Voters, and the Department of Sanitation," according to an official statement reported by WWLTV. Despite these closures, other parts of City Hall remained functional, with affected City offices continuing operations virtually.

Employees who returned to the building on Thursday found that the strong odor had not dissipated. Reports from WDSU noted that despite the initial gas leak concerns, the building was pronounced safe by city leaders. However, the underlying cause of the odor was eventually attributed to a "rodent issue," a rather less concerning but still disruptive problem for the municipal building's operations.

Investigations by the Department of Property Management, Entergy, and the New Orleans Fire Department concluded that the off-putting odor did not originate from a gas leak, with the specific source still under scrutiny. "The source of the smell is still being investigated," city officials conveyed to the public, as they juggled the dual priorities of safety and uninterrupted service to the community, as per WDSU.