A chemical odor delayed the start of classes for students at Davenport Ridge Elementary School in Stamford Wednesday for about an hour, officials say.

According to officials, around 6 a.m., a custodian entered a janitorial closet, smelled the fumes and became dizzy.

When parents began arriving later to drop their kids off for school, police turned them away. Students on arriving buses were sent to an adjacent church parking lot and not allowed to get off, according to the superintendent's office.

The Stamford Fire Department's hazmat crew investigated, and officials later blamed the odor on a carpet cleaning powder that got wet in the closet. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ventilated the building and gave the all-clear, allowing students to enter.

The custodian was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be OK.