A man poses for a photo as a dark cloud rises over East Palestine, Ohio, due to a controlled explosion on Monday after a train derailed. On Wednesday, authorities said residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
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Gene J. Puskar/AP
A man poses for a photo as a dark cloud rises over East Palestine, Ohio, due to a controlled explosion on Monday after a train derailed. On Wednesday, authorities said residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – Evacuated residents can safely return to their Ohio village, where The crew was burned with toxic chemicals After a train derailed five days ago near the Pennsylvania state line, East Palestine Fire Department Chief Keith Drabick said Wednesday.
Authorities in East Palestine have warned that burning vinyl chloride in five derailed tanker cars will release hydrogen chloride and the toxic gas phosgene into the air. They said on Wednesday, subsequent air monitoring had failed to detect levels of danger inside or outside of a one-mile radius evacuation zone, which stretches to Pennsylvania. Drabick said air and water samples taken Tuesday from the evacuation area show it is now safe and the evacuation order has been lifted. He thanked state and federal officials and agencies for their emergency response assistance over the past few days.
James Justice of the US Environmental Protection Agency said round-the-clock air monitoring showed normal levels, not cause for concern. He said hundreds of data points from that “show that the air quality in the town is safe”.
He reiterated that there was already a robust air monitoring system in place, and the data from that showed nothing at levels that could raise health concerns. The tracker detected airborne toxins during controlled combustion at the derailment site, but other samples outside that area did not.
Many nearby residents left shortly after the derailment, and others were told to leave before the controlled release of the chemical because of concerns about serious health risks from it.
The commander of the Ohio National Guard earlier said members wearing protective gear would take measurements inside homes, basements and businesses as officials aimed to make sure the air was safe before lifting the order. evacuation.
Some residents said they were worried about going back even if authorities said they could go home.
The flames from the chemical release are no longer burning and teams have begun clearing some of the debris.
About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, were derailed in a violent collision Friday night on the edge of East Palestine. Federal investigators say a technical problem with the railcar shaft caused the derailment.
No injuries were reported from a derailment or from a controlled release of chemicals on Monday, but some people have complained of smelling chlorine and smoke in the air and experiencing headaches.
People just outside the evacuation zone in East Palestine and in neighboring Beaver County, Pennsylvania, have been advised to stay indoors as a precaution. Officials in neighboring counties said air samples did not show any worrying levels of pollution.
At least one lawsuit has been filed over the derailment. An East Palestine business owner and two other residents sued the railway operator in federal court on Tuesday, accusing Norfolk Southern of negligence and consequential exposure to hazardous substances. They are seeking to turn it into a class action lawsuit against residents and businesses in the evacuation area and those who were physically harmed by chemicals spilled at the site.
Norfolk Southern declined to comment on the lawsuit.
