http://wvmetronews.com/2015/02/16/oil-train-derails-in-fayette-county-causing-explosion-tanker-cars-in-kanawha-river/
[image gallery and audio file in on-line article]
Train derailment sends oil cars into Kanawha River; explosions erupt
By Jeff Jenkins in News | February 16, 2015 at 2:31PM
MOUNT CARBON, W.Va. — Multiple tanker rail cars carrying crude oil
derailed Monday afternoon in Fayette County, triggering explosions and a
huge fire as several cars rolled through a residential subdivision and
into the Kanawha River.
At least one house was destroyed, but police have found no evidence of
fatalities.
The CSX train jumped the tracks at about 1:20 p.m. Eyewitness Randy
Fitzwater of Boomer said he thought a plane had crashed.
“I heard this loud noise. It sounded like a jet airplane flew over my
house and then I heard an explosion,” Fitzwater told Metronews. “I
looked across the river and I could see this big ball of flame.”
(Listen to Fitzwater’s full interview above.)
Another eyewitness, who declined to give her name, told Metronews “the
flames were going at least 300 feet in the air … black smoke
everywhere.” She reported hearing several explosions “that shook my
whole house. I could feel the heat through my door.”
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s office said the tanker cars were carrying Bakken
crude from North Dakota to Yorktown, Va. Spokesman Chris Stadleman said
it’s still not clear what caused the derailment or how many cars tumbled
into the river.
State Public Safety spokesman Larry Messina said first responders were
having trouble reaching the scene because of road conditions from the
snowstorm and the derailment itself.
Mount Carbon residents in the Adena Village area, which is just a few
miles from Montgomery on state Route 61, were being evacuated. Residents
across the river in Boomer also were told to leave their homes.
An evacuation shelter was set up at Valley Elementary School in
Smithers, W.Va.
With water intakes at Montgomery and Cedar Grove closed, residents were
asked to conserve water.
West Virginia American Water reported the intake for the Montgomery
water treatment plant, which draws water from the Kanawha River a few
miles downstream from the derailment, was shut down by 2:30 p.m.
Spokeswoman Laura Jordan said the Montgomery treatment plant “was shut
down before anything could reach the intake.”
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