BUCYRUS — A portion of Whetstone Street will likely remain closed through Tuesday evening while railroad crews work to repair tracks damaged by a derailment Sunday night.
Whetstone Street remains closed between Auto Street and East Warren Street, but should reopen by Wednesday morning, according to Capt. Greg Hershey of the Bucyrus Fire Department.
The derailment occurred on a stretch of the Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern Railroad when a Northfolk Southern train hopped the tracks around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday.
A total of 19 rail cars were derailed, including five that were overturned, Hershey said. No injuries, leaks or spills have been reported.
No cause for the derailment has been determined, officials said.
Some residents experienced minor property damage to their lawns, officials said. Bucyrus Law Director Brandon Gobrecht said he will work with residents and the railroad to address the damage.
Residents were evacuated due to concerns of hazardous leak
Capt. Curt Bursby of the Bucyrus Police Department said railroad crews had right-sided all the cars and gotten them back on the rails to be hauled away as of late Monday morning. The Crawford County Emergency Management Authority lifted an evacuation order for the area at 11 a.m.
The evacuation occurred because one of the overturned cars contained hydrochloric acid, a corrosive material that can be harmful to human health if inhaled.
Local authorities urged residents within a one mile radius to evacuate the area while they investigated the possibility of a leak or spill Sunday evening.
Within a few hours, the evacuation radius was reduced from a mile to a quarter mile radius and law enforcement agencies notified the public that there was no immediate threat to the community.
“Once safety personnel determined that the acid was sufficiently contained, they worked with railroad crews and determined the radius could be reduced to one-fourth of a mile,” Hershey said.
The Red Cross operated an emergency shelter out of Bucyrus High School for evacuated residents. Supt. Robert Britton said there were about 30 people staying at the high school Sunday night and about a dozen were still there by midmorning on Monday.
Hershey said it took time and careful effort to secure the scene was safe because there was another train car on top of the one carrying hydrochloric acid. Safety personnel remained on the scene while railroad crews worked.
Local officials said several agencies worked together on the scene, including Bucyrus Fire Department, Bucyrus Police Department, Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, Holmes Township Volunteer Fire Department, Crawford County Emergency Management Authority, Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s hazmat unit and the Federal Railroad Administration.
