Dulles at dusk. (Photo by schizoform)

Dulles at dusk. (Photo by schizoform)

Suspicious fumes at a Leesburg, Va. control center forced an evacuation and delayed hundreds of flights around the region last night, but travel at Washington-area airports is expected to return to normal by this afternoon.

Fumes from roofing work being done nearby had apparently gotten into the air conditioning system and blew into the control room, creating a worrying smell, according to the Washington Post. Fifty people were evacuated from the scene around 6:30 p.m. and another was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution.

Service was restored at the air traffic control center around 9:30 p.m. last night, says Andrew Trull, a spokesperson with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

But delays and cancellations varied depending on the airport and airline, with some D.C.-bound travelers forced to spend the night.

As of this morning some travelers are still experiencing delays because of the bottleneck in flights, but Trull expects things to completely return to normal by this afternoon.

The Leesburg regional Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control center is one of the busiest such hubs in the country. It directs air traffic for Dulles International, Reagan National and Baltimore-Washington International Marshall, including flights in Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.

Filed Under: air traffic control, airport, dca, delays, dulles, flight, travel,