(The following article by Kelly L. Holleran was posted on the Charleston Daily Mail website on February 7.)
CHARLESTON, WVa. — About 300 residents were allowed to return home Tuesday afternoon after the threat of hazardous chemicals from an early morning train derailment passed, emergency officials said.
A state of emergency for Kanawha County and an evacuation order were canceled, but County Commissioner Kent Carper said emergency personnel would continue to monitor the situation. The 99-car CSX Transportation freight train, which was carrying chemicals and propane gas, derailed near Handley in eastern Kanawha County around 4:45 a.m., forcing authorities to close a main highway and order residents to take shelter in nearby schools as a precaution.
No one was injured when 18 cars went off the track, said CSX spokesman Gary Sease. The cause of the derailment has not been determined. The railroad hoped to have the scene cleared by midnight
Tuesday and the track reopened by Wednesday, said Sease. Ten of the derailed cars carried hazardous materials. Five contained propane gas and four contained a sodium hydroxide solution, which is like a drain cleaner. Sodium hydroxide is a corrosive material that can cause serious burns if touched or inhaled, Sease said.
One contained chlorobenzene, which is commonly used for dry cleaning. None of the chemicals leaked from the cars, Sease said. State Route 61 in Handley remained closed Tuesday afternoon.
The eastbound train was traveling on CSX’s main line through the Kanawha Valley from Cincinnati to Richmond, Va., at the time, Sease said.
At least 27 CSX trains travel that stretch of track daily.
Handley, a river community of between 500 and 600 residents, is located about 20 miles east of Charleston on the Kanawha River.