(The following story by Brandy Warren appeared on the The Courier-Journal website on January 26.)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Anna Garcia used to spend her days chasing around her energetic son Dominic, nearly 3, in their spacious home on Huber Station Road.
But since the CSX train derailment last week, they’ve both been stuck in a cramped hotel room in Brooks.
“I’m a stay-at-home mom. It’s been kind of frustrating,” Garcia said yesterday.
And it’s unlikely to end soon.
Fifteen families who had to leave their homes on Huber Station Road and Angela Drive because of the Jan. 16 derailment and fire will likely be out of their homes for another three to five weeks, CSX spokesman Gary Sease said yesterday.
The challenge right now is re-establishing water to the homes. Authorities are considering installing a temporary water line that might help them return a bit faster.
They also are inspecting other utilities to see if they need to be repaired and to have the homes cleaned.
CSX has to schedule professional cleaners to prepare the houses for occupancy again.
Since the evacuation, the evacuees have stayed in hotels and with relatives as they wait to return home.
The railroad is reimbursing the homeowners for hotel bills, food and other expenses. It hasn’t tabulated how much they have spent so far, Sease said.
It also has issued 6,500 checks for $100 each to Bullitt County households inconvenienced in any way by the derailment — having to drive out of their way, for instance, or having to go home the day of the derailment to turn off their furnaces.
Those $100 checks have caused problems for Lillian Sutherland, who is staying at her daughter’s home in Fern Creek.
Because of the lines of people waiting for those checks, it’s been difficult to get to the CSX Outreach Center, at the Hearthstone Inn & Suites in Brooks, after work to get reimbursed for some of her expenses, she said.
She also travels from Bardstown Road to Brooks each day to check on the seven dogs she and her husband, Bill, had to leave at home.
“We’re just doing the best we can,” Sutherland said.
Sease said CSX and local authorities have been working together to allow residents to visit their homes each day to retrieve items and check on pets.
Angela Smith, another evacuee who has been staying in a hotel since the derailment, said that the daily trips home have made life easier, but that her life is nowhere near back to normal.
But as much as she longs to leave the hotel and return home, she has uncertainties about the safety of her husband and their dogs.
Like many of the evacuees, she has concerns about the air, as well as the health of her dogs — some of them were outside during the derailment.
“It’s totally uprooted our lives,” said Smith, who lives on Angela Drive. “It’s definitely been a life-changing experience. Hopefully things can get back to normal.”