graniteville SC if know people please read

i know of a few people who know people in my area and wanted to let everyone know to check in on them.


we had a train wreck today and its leaking a poisionus gas into the air. two confirmed dead one in hospital and lots of animals and fish dead.

evacted 5400 people so far. my mother in law lives in the area so i have been concerned about her. Aiken Sc is in a state of emergancy right now. can not get in or out of there at the moment. curfew is in effect so the towm is on lock down.

please keep our friends in this area in prayers tonight.


may be wrong to ask or post this but i know of three memebres who know people in this area and may not have heard this as of yet.

Gosh, thats awful!!

I lived in Columbia and AIken sounds familiar, but i can't place what direction. Can you help me out? Its been a few years since i've lived there.
I'm turning on the news now to try to see the updates. Thanks for posting it
Jen

Jen, Graniteville/AIken/.Agusta are south west of Columbia.
As imzadi knows, my college room mate and his family live in Graniteville where he is Superintendent of Schools; my nephew's wife's folks live in Aiken. I hope and trust they are safe; I have not had any news from them. I hope that there is an investigation to prevent future mishaps such as this.
Gary/Louisville

I forgot that Farmer Dill posts here on the
Tomato/Gardening threads. Hope he is safe.
Gary/Louisville

well so far 8 are dead and 213 in the hospital.

my mother in law is on lock down so cant get to her or the rest of our faimly. the telephone lines are being used to keep everyone involved posted and for all police personal in that area so its hard to call in from here to check on anyone.

the investigation starts fully tommorow as today was getting the gas contained. its a big mess here right now. they have a major highway closed down and cops are everywhere. since we live so close to ga the ga burue of investigation has lent cops to help with the lock down.

MsJen if you are coming back from columbia to akien and then past aiken then its the next town. its not very big at all. but big enough


its been a hettic day and it happened last night at 3am.


i am surprised i can get on the net tonight.






story below as of early tonight


Eight Die, 200 Hurt in S.C. Train Crash

Published: 1/6/05







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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. (AP) - A freight train carrying chlorine gas struck a parked train early Thursday, killing eight people and injuring at least 200 others, nearly all of them sickened by a toxic cloud that persisted over this small textile town at nightfall.

Authorities ordered all 5,400 people within a mile of the crash to evacuate in the afternoon because chlorine was continuing to leak and the gas was settling near the ground as temperatures dropped. They were unsure when the gas leak might be sealed.

State Sen. Tommy Moore said Thursday night that officials at Avondale Mill, the textile plant where the crash happened, told him eight people were found dead following the accident, including five inside the mill.

Eight people were in critical condition Thursday night after the 2:30 a.m. wreck of Norfolk Southern trains, in which 16 cars derailed.

Moore said he was told all the deaths were caused by inhaling chlorine fumes, except for the engineer of the moving train, who died in the crash. Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank said one person was found dead in a home and another was found in a vehicle.

Most of the injured were treated for respiratory ailments and released, but at least 45 people were admitted to hospitals, authorities said.

Residents were jarred awake Thursday by the sound of metal dragging and a house-shaking boom. A chemical fog lay over the crash site when Douglas Brown drove there after hearing the wreck from his home two streets away.

"You could smell it real good. It made your tongue numb, your throat get sore and your eyes get dry," said Brown, 44, who was among those treated.

Authorities convinced all but about a dozen people in the area to evacuate, and set up shelters for evacuees. Gov. Mark Sanford declared a state of emergency for Aiken County.

The potentially fatal gas can damage the respiratory and central nervous systems, and the throat, nose and eyes. Those who were exposed were told to report to decontamination units at two schools.

Three of the 42 cars on the moving train were carrying chlorine, Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said. He didn't know how many of the cars were damaged.

No one was aboard the parked train. One person was injured and trapped inside her car for two hours when a tree felled by a train car hit the vehicle, Frank said. Her condition and those of the crew members were unavailable.

Before the evacuation, nearby residents were told to stay inside their homes. Textile plants and schools in the area closed, and a 6 p.m.-to-7 a.m. curfew was imposed on Graniteville, about 15 miles northeast of Augusta, Ga.

Two other hazardous materials, cresol and sodium hydroxide, were being carried on the train in liquid form, but were a less immediate concern because they are corrosive only in direct contact, said Thom Berry, spokesman for the Department of Health and Environmental Control. It was not known Thursday afternoon if either liquid spilled.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration sent investigators to the accident.

Thanks for the directions, but i can't place it. We lived SE of Fort Jackson...seems like it was forever ago, but we moved away in 96 and i seem to have forgotten alot about it.
Jen

15 miles NE of Augusta.

Marie, Another of my college room mates has tried contacting our friend in Graniteville but there is no answer. They must be with family somewhere or in a shelter. He has a cousin near by and will try to reach him to see if he has any information. Thank You.
Gary/Louisville

Thank You, Marie. I know you all will be glad when this nightmare is over!
I sent the news article you shared with me to our other college room mate who has a church in Raeford, NC. He knew of the wreck but didn't realize that it was in Graniteville proper. He made attempts to call. He has a cousin who lives in the area who knows Troy and seeing if he has had any contact.
I will let you know if I learn anything.
I trust your family is safe and will continue to be so.
Gary/Louisville

Oh,dear this is awful. I work along with several other members I'm sure around these gases. The fact that the death count is not higher is what surprises me and I'm sure that the 2:30 am time really made a difference there.
Just to jog memories or inform,
ALWAYS GET UPWINDS FROM A GAS LEAK!
Lick your finger, put it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. If the leak is coming from where the wind is, then go left or right, which ever has the best escape route.
Many of these gases are so deadly that by the time you smell them you are gone. Hopefully all plants have air quality monitors that set off alarms. I am curious if the people living around this facility were also aware by these alarms and knew what to do.
I have respirators given to me from various jobs, but will be making sure I keep them in accessable places like under my front seat in the future.
I just double checked and I was on a Chartered Bus FULL snoozing on I-95 just east of there with-in 1 or 2 hours of this mishap. We arrived in Jacksonville at about 6am. God is good All the time!
Sidney

It was a great tragedy. I live some 11 miles southwest so no major problems here. My daughter lives in Aiken and the Aiken- Augusta highway is closed down. She is okey. My pastors wife's brother was among the Avondale workers killed . He was a supervisor on the night shift and apparently tried to get everyone else out the plant before he left. Just remind us how precarious life is.

i am sorry for the loss of life. there is so many routes closed at the moment you got to have a map to get somewhere even close to there.

they are not sure of the leaks yet and right now are concerned about the seeing how bad it got into a water source.


the evacties are gonna be that way for at least a week they are saying now. with faimly over there i am watching all this close .

they say it could get worse before its all through due to the tanker of gas.

Santee-Cooper Lake is right near there and just lovely part of our low country. I too will be praying. Many of my Boilermaker Union brothers live in this area. Wateree is another water area not far.
South Carolina is a real Southern Gem and this not as noticeable as the tsunami, but could be even more environmentally devistating.
Why this happened should be very high priority.

This e-message came from one of my former college room mates. Our other room mate, Troy, lives in Graniteville. Gary/Louisville

Dear Gary,

Troy called me back this evening. They are OK. Their house is outside
the evacuation area, but the access street is within the curfew area.
They are staying with his sister in law in N. Augusta, which seems wise
to me, even though they are not in the danger zone. He says there are 10
dead now, one not yet announced (not sure whether that is the 10th or the
11th). The damage is more than I had heard reported. The gas is very
corrosive, and the 3 best fire trucks (close by) are ruined, as well as
other equipment and buildings. The Epispical Church is right across the
road from the wreck, so their building may be condemned. Troy is high up
in the school system (not sure if he is still superintendent, as he is
retired but still working under a special plan SC has), so he has
responsibilities in the emergency -- school being used as a shelter. I
told him of your concern.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is so terribly hard not to say so much more here.
These chemicals are a vital part of so many things we all take for granted in our lives. We can only try to be aware of whats in our own yards, and neighborhoods.
Glad your friends and family are well and so sorry to hear of the manager who didn't get out.

The calls from people around the crash site to 911 were played this week. The people there were not informed or prepared. Anymore news from your friends Gary?