AP News, October 30th, 2007
More than 80 cars from two trains derailed early Monday and one car leaked a powerful acid, releasing a vapor cloud that closed schools and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate. No injuries were reported.
More than 350 people were evacuated from the path of the plume of hydrochloric acid vapor for about 12 hours, said city administrator Sara Folsted.
The derailment happened about 4 a.m. when a southbound BNSF Railway train pulled onto a siding and 61 of its cars derailed. That "fouled" the adjacent main line track and caused 22 cars of a northbound train to jump the tracks, said company spokesman Steve Forsberg.
He said the cause of the initial derailment wasn't known.
The city said in a prepared statement the Clara City Fire Department applied a special fog to the plume to make it disperse more quickly.
BNSF officials said they hoped to have the main tracks through Clara City open by 5 a.m. Tuesday, but said it would take several days to remove the derailed cars.
MACCRAY School District Superintendent Greg Schmidt said a firefighter rang his doorbell just after 5 a.m. and told him about the leak. He said he decided to cancel classes because he was told the acid cloud was sitting over the high school parking lot, which also served as a staging area used by buses for the elementary schools in nearby towns.
Hydrochloric acid is highly corrosive and can cause burns if it comes into direct contact with skin or eyes.
Clara City, with a population of about 1,340, is in western Minnesota 100 miles west of Minneapolis.
Elsewhere, an elementary school and nearby homes were evacuated because of a leak of anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer, at a town in western Kentucky. Paramedics administered oxygen to six people in Herndon but there were no serious injuries, said Christian County emergency operations center director Dee Hopper.
Officials were notified of the leak from a 30,000-gallon tank that had ruptured at the Agri-Chem company in Herndon around 6:23 a.m. CDT, Hopper said. The leak was contained by midmorning, Hopper said.
Students at the nearby South Christian Elementary school were evacuated and residents of homes within one mile of the plant were told to leave as a precaution, Hopper said. There was no immediate word how many children were involved.
(This version CORRECTS last name of school district superintendent to Schmidt).)
