Train derailment, hydrochloric acid leak prompt evacuations in Louisiana

PAULINA, La. (AP) — The derailment of six prepare vehicles and a subsequent acid leak prompted highway closures and evacuations Wednesday in a Louisiana neighborhood, officers stated.

No accidents had been reported within the derailment in the neighborhood of Paulina in St. James Parish, about 50 miles west of New Orleans. St. James officers stated about 200 houses had been evacuated. It wasn’t instantly clear what brought about the derailment.

Eric Deroche, St. James homeland safety director, stated a tank automobile was leaking hydrochloric acid that must be neutralized and eliminated earlier than the evacuation order might be lifted. Inhaling fumes from the corrosive chemical can harm the lungs.

State police spokesman Christian Reed stated the broken rail automobile was carrying 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters) of the chemical. Whereas officers weren’t positive precisely how a lot spilled out, St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne advised reporters it was doubtless that each one of it had leaked.

Deroche advised The Advocate officers expanded the preliminary evacuation space from 150 houses to 200 houses after the hydrochloric acid vapor unfold out as winds calmed down within the space. Officers stated residents had been being put up in resorts and that they may go to a seniors’ heart in close by Lutcher for a lodge project.

Reed stated the cleanup would take an “prolonged time frame,” and requested that residents be affected person as the method unfolds.

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