(The Orlando Sentinel posted the following article by Charlene Hager-Van Dyke on its website on July 26.)
KORONA, Fla. — A late-night train derailment sent nine cars — four of which were carrying potentially hazardous materials — tumbling off the Florida East Coast Railway in Flagler County about 15 miles north of Daytona Beach.
The derailment caused the temporary evacuation of six families early Friday and disrupted traffic along County Road 200.
The accident occurred shortly before 11:30 p.m. Thursday nine miles south of Bunnell.
“It was a mechanical failure of a wheel on one of the cars,” Flagler County Fire/Rescue Chief Jim Cooper said Friday.
“Probably about 800 feet of dual-rail track was torn up and has to be replaced if it hasn’t been already,” he said.
Three of the derailed tank cars were carrying sodium hydroxide, a caustic liquid solution, and another held liquid chlorine.
“There was no spillage and there were no injuries,” Cooper said. “We were really lucky. It’s just a testament to the engineering of these tank cars.”
In less than two hours, emergency workers had the chlorine car isolated from the others and all the residents were allowed to return to their homes, Cooper said. “It was just a precautionary evacuation because some people lived as close as 40 feet from the tracks.”
Traffic was intermittently interrupted on County Road 200 off U.S. Highway 1 South, but it never affected motorists traveling along U.S. 1, Cooper said.
The freight train, which was on its way to Jacksonville from Miami, had two locomotives and 52 cars, said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington, D.C., which is investigating the accident.
“The FRA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, will investigate and produce a report on the derailment,” he said.