We're doing the best we can. I really think we're safe here in the house; they aren't even relocating people from Graniteville where this happened and we're five miles away.
They can smell the chlorine from 20 or more miles away.
Governor saying it will be a bigger project than they thought given the size of the wreck and leak.
Thanks for your concern everyone; I'm going to go lie down for a while with a cold compress.
Two Dead, Hundreds Treated After Aiken County Train Derailment
Trains Collide Near Graniteville
POSTED: 10:29 am EST January 6, 2005
UPDATED: 2:43 pm EST January 6, 2005
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. -- Aiken County officials say at least two people has died following the train wreck near Graniteville Thursday morning.
Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank did not say whether the death occurred in the wreck or from the chemical spill that followed. He said a dusk-to-dawn curfew will be in effect in Graniteville beginning at 6 p.m.
A Norfolk Southern freight train with 42 cars struck another locomotive with two cars on the siding at a textile plant in Graniteville shortly before 3 a.m. The railroad said three of the cars on the moving train were carrying chlorine. Frank said that 13 railcars derailed.
Train cars piled up where a train collided with a parked train in Graniteville, releasing a cloud of chlorine gas.
Thom Berry, of the Department of Health and Environmental Control, said one tanker car is leaking chlorine.
Frank said as of 1:30 p.m., 191 people had been treated or decontaminated, with 46 admitted to hospitals and 13 in critical condition.
Frank said it's important for Graniteville residents to stay inside and keep doors and windows closed. He said heaters and air conditioners should also be turned off.
There is no word on how many people have been treated at decontamination sites at the University of South Carolina--Aiken campus or Midland Valley High School. Some of those people have been sent to the hospital.
A crew from Norfolk Southern is now at the scene and is about to examine the leaking car to try to determine the best way to stop the leak.
Officials confer at an Environmental Protection Agency command post set up in nearby Aiken following the train derailment.
More than a half dozen textile mills in Graniteville and Warrenville are closed. Four schools in the area are also closed.
Douglas Brown, 44, lives two blocks from the track. He said he heard a boom that shook his house and heard metal dragging. Brown said he got into his car and drove to the scene. He said he saw a fog over the ground. He says there was a strong odor that made his tongue numb and his throat sore.
Brown went to USC Aiken for decontamination. He said his family is at home with the doors and windows closed and the ventilation systems off.
Mary Judge, 48, was also at USC Aiken and worried about her dogs. She says they were barking furiously after the crash and then stopped.
It's unclear when people will be allowed to return home. They were given white paper jump suits and paper slippers after they were decontaminated.
Gov. Mark Sanford has declared a state of emergency for the area, and is expected to tour the incident Thursday afternoon.
http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/4054481/detail.html
Peach, if you were outside...
at least please go take a shower and change your clothes.
At least 15 min. under the shower and let the water run onto your eyes as well.