About 20 cars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed Ohio on Saturday, a month after the disastrous East Palestine derailment.
Hazmat crews and emergency services responded after the 212-car freight train derailed near Clark County The exhibition area i Springfield at 5 pm on Saturday.
Residents within 1,000 feet of the derailment were asked to shelter in place at 7 p.m. “out of abundance, out of caution,” the Clark County Emergency Management Agency said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
More than 1,500 residents were without power last night.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in a statement that he did not believe there was any dangerous material on board the train and that officials from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and accident investigators were on the scene.
President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had called him to offer federal help, DeWine added.
The derailed tankers contained “residual amounts” of diesel exhaust fluid and polyacrylamide aqueous solution, officials said.
On Sunday, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown told ABC News This week that the derailment shows that the railway companies’ “greed and incompetence always take precedence” over safety.
Further details are expected to be released at a press conference later on Sunday.
The latest incident occurred almost exactly a month after a Norfolk Southern was carrying toxic chemicals derailed in eastern Palestine on February 3, about 230 miles east of Springfield.
A controlled burn of vinyl chloride was carried out, sending black clouds billowing over the region and sending polluted water into rivers.
Furious residents have filed several class action lawsuits against Norfolk Southern over its handling of the environmental disaster.
Officials have tried to reassure residents that the air and water in the city are safe.