Lafayette cleared for return

• By RICHARD BURGESS AND PATRICK COURREGES
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: May 19, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

LAFAYETTE — Louisiana State Police sounded the all-clear Sunday for about 3,000 northwest Lafayette residents within 1 mile of a Saturday train derailment at the Ambassador Caffery Parkway overpass to return to their homes.

Stephen Lafargue, a spokesman for State Police, said Sunday evening that the evacuation area had been rolled back from the original 1-mile radius around the derailment to 1,000 feet. He said that zone does not include any homes, and only a few businesses.

The evacuation order came early Saturday morning after six rail cars on the Burlington Northern Sante Fe tracks derailed and one ruptured, leaking an estimated 11,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid, which can cause respiratory problems and skin and eye irritation.

Cleanup crews used lime to neutralize the acid and contractors for the rail company planned to dig out the material for disposal, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. More than half of the acid had been removed, State Police said.
No major injuries were reported due to the accident.

Several families initially went to the Red Cross shelter set up at Carencro High School, but the shelter shut down by 9 p.m. Saturday as accommodations were set up at local hotels for them by the rail company.

A nursing home with 161 residents was evacuated, and about 35 were taken to area hospitals because they were too frail to be moved to other facilities, state officials said.

Lafargue said that the cleanup of the area had gone more quickly and smoothly than expected, allowing for people to return to their homes Sunday night.

He said that all of the rail cars had been righted and most of the roads that had been closed due to the spill had been reopened.
The derailment and subsequent leak led to the shutting down of portions of major roads, such as Ambassador Caffery, Cameron, Bertrand, and even a temporary closing of Interstate 10 while some of the rail cars were righted.

Lafargue said the only closure that will remain in effect is the Ambassador Caffery overpass at the railroad crossing. He said that some of the rail cars may have struck the underside of the overpass and it will not be reopened until state Department of Transportation and Development officials have cleared it.

Lafargue said that DOTD’s inspectors cannot begin their work until the last of the cleanup is complete and the 1,000-yard safety zone is dissolved. He said the last of that cleanup may take a day or two more.

In the meantime, BNSF, a Texas rail company that operated the train, is setting up a claims center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Cajundome.

The center will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.

Residents from the affected area are asked to bring a driver’s licenses, receipts for expenses due to the evacuation and utility bills to show proof of residency.