Haz-mat team to inspect tankers derailed by flood

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

A 54-car Union Pacific freight train that included six tankers that carry hazardous chemicals derailed Wednesday after floodwaters poured into a canyon about 65 miles north of Las Vegas where the train had been sidelined for a week.

The floodwaters in Meadow Valley Wash overturned 21 rail cars as the torrent poured down from rain and melting snow in Lincoln County into the Muddy River and undermined the tracks, Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said.

No one was on the train at the time.

Fearing that the chemical tankers containing chlorine, sulfuric acid and liquid petroleum might have been damaged in the derailment, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection sent a hazardous management team to inspect them.

Late Wednesday Bromley said none of the chemical cars, which he described as having "residue" from their loads, had been involved in the derailment.

"They were empty tankers that had contained non-hazardous cargo," Bromley said of cars involved in the derailment. A freight car full of kitchen appliances also went off the tracks, he said.

However, railroad crews had not been able to approach the derailment because of the rushing waters, Bromley said.

"We haven't been able to inspect them," he said. "There is no way yet to determine if they leaked."

Each chemical tanker carries a placard describing what is inside, even if it is empty of chemicals, Bromley said.

Eric Matus of the state Environmental Protection Division said Union Pacific had assured the haz-mat team that none of the tankers was full. The train had left Los Angeles heading for Ogden, Utah. It was put on a spur several days ago when a bridge about 30 miles south of Caliente washed out, Bromley said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the state's haz-mat team was ferried by helicopter into the area, Matus said.

"I haven't heard from them yet and we will know more after a visual, on-the-ground inspection," he said.

"It would take an enormous amount of chemical to be a risk downstream," Matus said. "There's probably a low-level of risk, if any."

Clark County Emergency Management staff, who are manning an Emergency Operations Center 24 hours a day because of the avalanche risks in the Spring Mountains and flooding in Overton and Mesquite, were notified of the potential hazardous cargo by the state Environmental Protection Division.

"They were on the phone within 10 minutes of the reported incident," said Carolyn Levering, plans and operations coordinator for the county's Emergency Management Division.

The Bureau of Land Management, which manages the area where the derailment occurred, will oversee any cleanup necessary at the damaged tracks, Kirsten Cannon, a BLM spokeswoman said. However, the railroad will be responsible for the cleanup, she said.

Railroad tracks in California, Nevada and Utah have been washed away, buried in mud or rock slides amid a series of record-breaking storms, authorities said.

The wet, winter weather has prompted the closure or restriction of five of Union Pacific's main routes in California and Nevada and has damaged signals throughout the Southwest, Bromley said.

In the wake of the environmental destruction, the Association of American Railroads, the lobby group for railroads, has restricted Union Pacific's shipments from Los Angeles north to Santa Barbara and east to Moapa Valley indefinitely.

Routes will have to be repaired and operations may resume later in the week, Bromley said. Once routes open, there is a backlog of trains, such as the one that had derailed.