Locals Evacuate After Chemical Spill - TRAIN DERAILMENT IN CRAWFORD TEXAS

Looks like the Prez's digs are safe. Now it's just a matter of the locals dealing with the brunt of the problem. Am glad it has cooled off - would've been worse in more ways than one if this had happened a couple of weeks back - yek.

81 posted on 09/19/2006 6:58:27 PM PDT by lapsus calami (What's that stink? Code Pink ! ! And their buddy Murtha, too! http://www.dianairey.com)

Ethanolamine, a viscous compound that smells like ammonia, is commonly found in biological tissues, but it also has numerous industrial applications. It is used as a surfactant, emulsifier, and plasticizer, and it removes H2S and CO2 from refinery and natural gas streams. Ethanolamine is important in the manufacture of herbicides, detergents, cosmetics, metal cleaners, and textiles.

82 posted on 09/19/2006 7:11:47 PM PDT by tiki

The live shot reporter just stated evacuations were for 1/2 mile from the derailment.

That would still be the whole town. But not the "then some"...

83 posted on 09/19/2006 7:19:35 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)

To: lapsus calami

I am 40 miles from Crawford. The whole town is being evacuated and no one is allowed into town. The Sheriff's department is controlling the Scene. Waco HAZMAT is on the scene.

The train wreck is in the center of town. Local Fire Departments are on the way.

84 posted on 09/19/2006 7:30:32 PM PDT by Leofl (I'm from Texas, we don't dial 9-11)

Actually, a half-mile radius would still be all of the town...and then some.

Crawford, TX

The wreck reportedly occurred at the RR tracks and Hwy 185 (Cedar Rock Parkway).

Prairie Chapel Road, which runs NW out of town, is the road to the President's ranch.

85 posted on 09/19/2006 7:31:09 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)

To: lapsus calami

The pesticide spill has been contained but Hwy 317 and Highway 85 are closed. The citizens of Crawford are are being taken to the community center and the elementary school.

86 posted on 09/19/2006 7:33:47 PM PDT by Leofl (I'm from Texas, we don't dial 9-11)

How could you possibly have guessed?

You win the prize.

87 posted on 09/19/2006 7:44:21 PM PDT by garyhope (It's World War IV, right here, right now courtesy of Islam.)

To: peyton randolph

Unconfirmed reports that is is dihydrogen monoxide!!! Might be lethal to Cindy Sheehan or Michael Moore.

And to the French.

88 posted on 09/19/2006 7:55:30 PM PDT by lowbridge (I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming, like his passengers.)

No it really happened this evening. Channel 25 is KXXV, do a search for the news station.

89 posted on 09/19/2006 8:18:20 PM PDT by RebaJ

To: lapsus calami

They said on KXXV just a few ago that it's now pesticide - well, that's better (I think......)

Maybe, and maybe not as well. Most pesticides are close cousins to Nerve Gas!

90 posted on 09/19/2006 8:21:22 PM PDT by El Gato

I'm from Texas, we don't dial 9-11

Sure we do, somebody has to clean up the mess and file the paperwork.

91 posted on 09/19/2006 8:23:39 PM PDT by El Gato

Unconfirmed reports that is is dihydrogen monoxide!!! Might be lethal to Cindy Sheehan or Michael Moore.

And to the French.

Actually the most toxic thing to a frenchman would be soap

92 posted on 09/19/2006 8:34:34 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (Property tax is feudalism. Income taxes are armed robbery of the minority by the majority.)

Evacuation lifted....one of the 23 derailed cars clipped a power line that is being worked on now. The pesticide leak has been contained.

93 posted on 09/19/2006 8:37:23 PM PDT by LA Woman3

94 posted on 09/20/2006 4:16:39 AM PDT by Leofl (I'm from Texas, we don't dial 9-11)

Update....

Train derailment in Crawford forces evacuation

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

By Mónica Ortiz Uribe and Emily Ingram
Tribune-Herald staff writers

CRAWFORD — Hundreds of Crawford residents were evacuated Tuesday evening when a train derailed downtown and spilled a corrosive chemical.

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway train was traveling south toward Crawford about 6:20 p.m. when it jumped the tracks in the downtown area and 23 cars derailed, said Bob Sutter, Crawford’s emergency management coordinator.

One chemical, the corrosive liquid ethanolamine, spilled from the cars, said Patrick Brady, an employee with Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s hazardous materials team.

The chemical is “not really an airborne agent,” said Crawford Assistant Fire Chief John Brooks, but it can irritate and burn if it’s on the skin.

If someone was standing close to the chemical, it could cause health problems, Brooks said, but he said he believed nobody could have gotten close enough for that to happen.

Brooks said hazardous materials teams took several air-quality readings at the scene and told crews that the air quality was acceptable. He said the air quality in Crawford was never compromised.

Still, city officials evacuated about 300 residents within a half-mile of the crash. By 10 p.m., Sutter said that the air quality was fine and that people were able to return home.

Electricity remained out in part of the town later Tuesday night after one of the train cars hit a light pole. School would resume as normal today, Sutter said.

The chemical continued to leak at 10 p.m., but employees had built a dike to contain the leak. The rail cars were expected to be removed from the tracks by noon today, although officials said they expected that the portion of State Highway 317 which crossed the tracks would be closed for several days.

Brady said the railroad would bring in an independent air monitoring team to check cleanup efforts.

Charlie and Murlin Bottlinger own several large grain storage bins adjacent to where the train derailed. They said railroad officials informed them that it would take about 24 hours to clear the tracks.

Charlie Bottlinger said one of his tractor-trailers that was loading up with grain at the time of the derailment was struck by a train car, causing major damage. Luckily, the driver was not in the truck at the time, he said. Some grain did spill, he said, but at a distance from the chemicals, so there was no cross-contamination.

Joe McCulloch, who lives two blocks from the downtown railroad tracks, said he was on his way home when police vehicles blocking the surrounding area informed him of the derailment.

“I called my wife to see if she was OK, and she said she was fine but that she had heard a big explosion,” he said.

95 posted on 09/20/2006 8:11:06 AM PDT by LA Woman3

To: lapsus calami

96 posted on 09/20/2006 4:30:43 PM PDT by Republicus2001

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794