(The following story by Mike Bucsko appeared on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website on February 2.)
PITTSBURGH — Residents of the Creighton section of East Deer who were evacuated Monday because a derailed Norfolk Southern tanker car was leaking a hazardous chemical should be able to return to their homes sometime today.
Workers from a Washington County contractor and the railroad company made a “tremendous amount of progress” yesterday as they removed debris, righted and removed derailed railroad cars, and replaced 415 feet of damaged track, said Robert Full, chief of Allegheny County’s emergency management operations.
It was also discovered a tanker car that had leaked the chemical anhydrous hydrogen fluoride was nearly empty, Full said.
Emergency workers came to that conclusion after continued tests of the Allegheny River revealed a decrease in concentration of the hydrogen fluoride in the water after a peak period Monday night, said Don Bialosky, the DEP’s emergency program manager in Pittsburgh.
On Monday night, the detection of high fluoride levels caused the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to shut off its intake valves from the Allegheny River for about three hours at its plant near the Waterworks shopping center about 10.5 miles south of the damaged tanker, Bialosky said. The high fluoride level did not pose any public health hazard, he said.
By late yesterday afternoon, the upside down, damaged tanker was righted in the river and the DEP determined it was “no longer an atmospheric threat,” Bialosky said.
The 23,600-gallon tanker, one of three that derailed, contained a highly toxic, concentrated gas form of hydrogen fluoride, a caustic chemical corrosive that turns to hydrofluoric acid when mixed with water, can cause burns to the skin and eyes, and may be fatal if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Hydrogen fluoride is used in water purification in a highly diluted form and in a more concentrated state in the steel industry as a corrosive.
Though it is likely the evacuation order will be lifted today, Full, Bialosky and other officials at the scene yesterday cautioned that a danger of hydrogen fluoride emissions still existed until the damaged tanker was removed from the river and the hydrogen fluoride was removed from the two other tanker cars that derailed.
About 200 Creighton residents were evacuated in a half-mile area in southwestern East Deer. Twenty-two families stayed in hotels each of the past two nights, with Norfolk Southern picking up the tab.
Another three dozen people were helped Monday while the Southwestern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Red Cross operated an emergency shelter at Holy Family Church on Freeport Road, Red Cross Chief Operating Officer Robert Skertich said.
The Red Cross did not operate the shelter yesterday, but Norfolk Southern opened an assistance center in the church social hall to provide help for families and businesses displaced by the derailment.
Residents seeking updated information about the evacuation order should call the East Deer Municipal Building at 724-224-3434.
About 5 p.m. yesterday, workers with railroad contractor Hulcher Services Inc. of Washington, Pa., had completed cable hookups to the leaking tanker car and were preparing to move it out of the water. The contractor built a sloping ramp up the steep river bank below the railroad tracks so the tanker car could be pulled out, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said.
At the same time, Hulcher and Norfolk Southern workers had completed the rigging necessary to begin removal, through hoses, of the hydrogen fluoride from the other two tanker cars and transfer it to empty cars. The transfer processwas expected to take 10 to 14 hours.
Once the transfer is completed this morning, Full said, the evacuation order should be lifted.
The accident occurred at 5:28 a.m. Monday on the Norfolk Southern tracks that run up the Allegheny Valley about 18 miles from the Point. The cause remains under investigation by the railroad, though Husband said the company will not disclose any results until the investigation is completed.
The 83-car train, which was traveling 28 miles per hour when the derailment occurred, was on its way from the Conway railroad yards in Beaver County to Allentown. The derailment occurred in about the middle of the train.
Railroad workers replaced damaged track to permit the empty tanker cars access to the derailed tankers so the transfer process could begin, Husband said.
The replacement track was set off at an angle to bring the empty tankers closer to the derailed cars and help in the chemical transfer, but the section will be straightened out in the next day or so to permit the line to be opened to traffic again, he said.