(The Associated Press circulated the following story on May 9.)
BAZAAR, Kan. — Authorities evacuated an area around Highway 177 in Chase County Thursday night after a train derailed, spilling a hazardous chemical, authorities said.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe train, headed from Dayton, Texas, to Galesburg, Ill., derailed about five miles east of Matfield Green, Kan., at 5:55 p.m., said Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for the railroad.
“We don’t know a whole lot, people haven’t reached the scene,” Forsberg said.
Jim Schmidt, director of emergency management for Butler County, said authorities in Chase County – unable to immediately reach the scene – requested an ambulance. Schmidt said there was an initial report of one injury, the severity of which was not immediately known.
Forsberg said the train of 118 cars included six loads of LPG, or liquid petroleum gas, and one car hauling a material used in road construction. It was not immediately clear if either was the material leaking, or how many cars derailed, Forsberg said.
“It had been reported to us that residents saw a green cloud,” Forsberg said.
Both the Chase County Sheriff’s Department and Forsberg said weather may have been a factor in the derailment, and the National Weather Service reported strong, straight-line winds – but not a tornado – in the area.
The highway was shutdown from Cottonwood Falls south to Butler County, as authorities evacuated residents from homes in the area surrounding the spill, the sheriff’s department said.
Forsberg said the trail derailed on a section of track that is well mantained and inspected on a daily basis, and is part of the railroad’s high-speed, premier route from Chicago to Los Angeles.