(The following story by Ben Werner appeared on The State website on January 7.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A boom and sounds of metal crashing into metal, jolted Connie Mackley and her husband, Art Craddock, from a sound sleep during Thursday’s pre-dawn hours.
“We said it sounded like a train crash,” Mackley recalled.
But the retired couple did not know how right their startled first reaction was until their daughter-in-law called a few minutes later.
Mackley and Craddock were among the nearby Graniteville residents forced to hole up in their homes after Thursday’s train crash and chlorine leak. Authorities late Thursday afternoon issued a mandatory evacuation order for everyone within a one-mile radius of the site.
Craddock, who once worked with chemicals while in the army at Fort Gordon, Ga., went outside the couple’s Main Street house to turn off the heating unit and make sure the windows were shut.
The couple had planned to run some errands and eat lunch at Shoney’s. Instead, they were told to remain inside until Graniteville was evacuated later in the day.
Walter Deaswas just getting up to prepare for the breakfast rush at his Chevy’s Cafe on Graniteville’s Main Street. Instead, he sat alone in his eatery.
Several neighboring businesses on Main Street never opened on Thursday.
Roughly 2,500 textile workers at the Avondale Mills facility in Graniteville were told not to show up for work.
About 500 employees were working when the crash occurred. Avondale Mills runs 24-hours a day.
With little work to do, Deas, like many Graniteville residents, spent the day watching train crash coverage on TV. Deas estimated being closed would cost him between $200 and $350.
“Any day you lose money it’s a bad day for you,” said Deas, who decided to spend the night with friends in Augusta after hearing about the evacuation order.
The interesting thing, Deas said, was that he didn’t hear a thing, even though his apartment, attached to the cafe, is about three blocks from the crash site.
“I found out about it when I turned on the TV,” he said.
Emma Ready said she and her husband, Emery, found out about the crash when a client called about 4 a.m.
She’s retired, but provides day care for the children of teachers at the nearby Leavelle McCampbell Middle School, which was closed.
One of the parents, an Aiken County Sheriff’s deputy, called to check in on the couple.
Ready said her eyes and her husband’s were slightly irritated, but otherwise they did not feel any ill effects. If they encountered trouble breathing or smelled chlorine, Ready said she was ready to call 911.
“We’ve lived on these railroad tracks for 40 years,” Ready said. “You just don’t pay attention.”