Los Angeles City Hall goes to war against rats

Los Angeles: Los Angeles officials are ripping out carpets, setting traps and fumigating as they battle a rat infestation at City Hall that one attorney says left her battling a bout of typhus.

The historic building, located in the downtown area, has apparently been overrun with rodents after a nearby structure was demolished last year.

City council members and staff say the rats are having a field day in the 91- year- old building, nesting in potted plants, gnawing at carpets and leaving droppings on several floors.

Elizabeth Greenwood, a city attorney, believes she contracted typhus last November after working in a building connected to City Hall.

“It was terrifying, I thought I was going to die and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me,” she told the local CBS station.

The rat problem has gotten so bad that city council president Herb Wesson this week submitted a motion calling for a probe into “the scope of vermin and pest control issues” in the building and adjacent structures. “Employees shouldn’t have to come to work worried about rodents,”