POTTERVILLE, Mich. — Residents will be barred from their homes for at least another day as cleanup continues at the derailment site of a CN-owned train, a wire service reported on Thursday.
An evacuation order remains in effect until Friday morning for Potterville’s 2,200 residents, who were forced to leave their homes Monday, Memorial Day in the United States.
The derailment site remains extremely dangerous because of leakage from a tanker car filled with liquid propane, which is highly explosive.
About 75 workers from Canadian National Railway Co. and local fire departments had to leave the scene Wednesday night because of high levels of propane vapour.
Lightning also has slowed the progress of workers as thunderstorms rolled through the area Wednesday. More storms were expected Thursday.
“The thunderstorms were scary,” said T.J. Richardson, a firefighter with the Potterville/Benton Township Fire Department. “Even the haz-mat teams aren’t used to this. We just want to get people back in their homes.”
Potterville is about 20 kilometres southwest of Lansing and 145 kilometres west of Detroit. Officials say 30 freight trains a day normally run through the town, which is on the route between Toronto and Chicago.
The sheriff’s department said cleanup crews also were pumping toxic sulphuric acid from one of the tankers and into a new rail car for transport out of the area.
Some of the derailed cars are being removed by installing new wheels on the cars and replacing them on the track. The unsalvageable cars are being cut up and removed piece by piece, Jones said.
Canadian National was still not speculating as to the cause of the derailment Thursday morning. The company has said it must finish the cleanup before it can conduct a full investigation.
The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration also was investigating, Jones said. A spokesman at the Federal Railroad Administration did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.
Canadian National officials met Wednesday evening with Potterville residents to discuss the cleanup effort as well as plans to reimburse them for hotel rooms, food and other expenses.
Sheriff’s deputies have been escorting residents on brief visits to their homes to collect medicine, pets or other necessities.
Brad Boyce and his family were returning from a nearby lake on Memorial Day when they were told they couldn’t go home. Boyce, his wife and two sons and their dog are now staying with his stepmother in nearby Eaton Rapids.
“I’m still worried about my house,” said Boyce, 40, who has lived along the tracks his entire life and has never seen an accident like this one. “I don’t know what kind of chemicals they’re talking about. Most of my information’s been from the news.”