Gov. Jindal Addresses train derailment in Lawtell in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
Police and firefighters responded about 3:30 p.m. Sunday when at least 26 cars derailed in Lawtell, Louisiana about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge.
There are no fatalities and no injuries, but three cars are leaking three different chemicals. One car is leaking a lubricant oil, one car is leaking Dodecanol, and one car is leaking the highly corrosive substance Sodium Hydroxide, also known as caustic soda or lye.
Air monitors have not detected any air quality issues.
In all 23 train cars derails, and 14 contained “regulated substance” that are harmful or toxic. Two derailed train cars contain a highly toxic, flammable, and carcinogenic substance known as vinyl chloride monomer have damage to their exteriors, but no signs of leaks. The cars with the vinyl chloride monomer are causing the greatest concern of all the train cars that are derailed.
About 100 homes were evacuated near the crash scene.
Union Pacific has set up a hotline for those affected: 1-877-877-2567. The rail company will be covering costs for affected residents.
No mention of the derailment was mentioned on the official Twitter account of Union Pacific as of early Monday morning.
Screen shot of Union Pacific Twitter account Monday morning.
The railroad appears to carry some very long freight trains.
FILE VIDEO: NS 9497 (C40-9W): Lawtell, LA “Jul 22, 2010”
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