West Virginia Train Derailment - A train transporting more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed on Monday during a snowstorm in southern West Virginia. The aftermath was a huge explosion involving at least 14 tankers, leaving the area filled with clouds of fire and smoke.
According to Lawrence Messina, spokesman or the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, one person has been injured and one home set ablaze as a result of the incident which happened around 1:30 p.m. in the Fayette County, West Virginia.
Authorities have evacuated hundreds of residents as a result of the huge fire. Reports indicate that at least one tanker fell into the Kanawha River, polluting a major source of drinking water for the counties.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a state of emergency on Monday night as result of the fire. He also pressed residents to conserve water in this trying time.
West Virginia American Water has shut down a water treatment plant, located 3 miles from the scene of the derailment. State health officials have also shut down another water plant downstream in Cedar Grove.
The fire has been raging on for about nine hours and according to Messina, firefighter plan to let the oil tankers burn out.
He added that an investigation into the cause of the derailment is underway. "We've had some severe winter weather conditions here with significant snowfall. We don't yet know whether that's a factor in this," Messina said.
According to David McClung, a resident who says he felt the heat of the blaze at his home about half a mile away.
"It was a little scary. It was like an atomic bomb went off," he said to AP. "One of the explosions that followed sent a fireball at least 300 feet into the air."
Gray Sease, a spokesman for the rail company CSX, said in statement that investigations are ongoing into the details of the derailment.
"CSX teams also working with first responders to address the fire, to determine how many rail cars derailed, and to deploy environmental protective and monitoring measures on land, air and in the nearby Kanawha River."
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