(The State published the following story by Clif LeBlanc on its website on September 30.)
HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Deloris Robertson, 61, was fed up at being kept away from her home for hours because of a chemical leak she felt no longer was dangerous.
With her two longhaired Chihuahuas — Caleb and Casey — under her arms, she and a 68-year-old friend decided to slip into the night, dodge the cops and brave the woods.
“I just decided, I’m tired of it. We’re just going to go home,” she said Monday afternoon from her couch inside a four-block evacuation zone just east of Hartsville.
She was among residents of about 30 homes ordered out Sunday afternoon when emergency workers realized they could not keep a 20,000-gallon rail tanker from leaking a corrosive ammonium nitrate solution.
The chemical leaks and the evacuation frustrated residents who live along the rail line in this Darlington County community of 9,000.
No one knows how many families left, but many stayed behind, Epps said. The rest spent the night with relatives or friends.
By Monday afternoon, nearly all were allowed to return home.
No one was hurt nor was anyone in danger during the 24-hour ordeal, Epps said. The evacuation was a precaution because many people near the spill are elderly.
State, local and private hazardous materials workers at Railroad Avenue could not stop numerous leaks from the bottom of the tanker, said Hartsville Fire Chief Bill Heathman and county emergency spokesman Linwood Epps.
Ammonium nitrate can cause respiratory problems, irritate eyes and trigger severe coughing and vomiting, according to the manufacturer, TradeMark Nitrogen Corp., of Tampa, Fla.
Robertson did not experience any of that. She lives within 100 yards of the first of two spills — the second was about four miles away, where the train was moved farther from homes. The tanker leaked an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 gallons, Epps said.
Police ordered her and friend, Harold Ferguson, out sometime about 4 or 5 p.m. Sunday, they said.
No one would explain what was going on, Robertson and Ferguson said. Still, they followed orders and went four blocks to the home of Robertson’s daughter.
As the hours passed, Robertson could not understand why authorities kept people out after the train had been moved and the danger seemed to be over.
So, she and Ferguson snuck into woods that surround a baseball park about 11:30 p.m. “We would get down on the ground, squat down. Then … they’d drive by real slow,” Robertson said of patrolling police.
They gave up after the thorny underbrush and mosquitoes got to be too much.
Neighbor Leon Hood, a 71-year-old retired cabinetmaker who lives farther from the spill site than Robertson, got home with a police escort about 9 p.m. Sunday.
His wife’s Alzheimer’s disease made her uneasy, even though he took her only 14 miles away, to a relative’s house in Darlington, Hood said.
“When I got back here … it was so strong it burned your nose,” he said of the smell. “I rushed her in the house just as quick as I could … locked the door and went to bed.”
The evacuation kept the Weeks family from watching the telecast of the NASCAR Winston Cup race in Talladega, Ala.
Wilma and Harry Weeks and their 10-year-old grandson, Christian Weeks, climbed into their truck and headed for a son’s home in Darlington.
Wilma and Christian Weeks said the chemical burned their eyes. The Weeks family tried to return home midday Monday, but the roadblocks remained. They got home about 5 p.m.
The weather was both a concern and a help to the nearly 100 emergency workers.
They feared a wind change during the night would push the vapors toward the homes, Epps said. But cooler temperatures made the chemical less active.
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating the spill, said spokesman Warren Flatau. He did not know the cause or how long the probe would take.
Flatau said the S.C. Central Railroad, which was carrying the chemical to Royster-Clark, a local fertilizer manufacturer, has had a “minimal number” of reportable incidents.
Central Railroad did not return telephone calls.
TradeMark’s vice president, Bill Blevins, declined comment.