Norfolk Southern train derailment in Clark County: What we know

Thanks, Randy. Thank you. New this morning showing the moments. Another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springfield. That's just north of Dayton. This is caught on dash cam video. The company's second derailment in Ohio in just over a month.

Yeah, almost 30 cars here went off the track Saturday about 200 miles away from February's derailment in East Palestine. Now authorities say a Norfolk Southern train was on the way to Birmingham, Alabama from Bellevue, Ohio when it derailed in Springfield. That's in Clark County. And that's where we find WLWT News 5's Meredith Stutz with what we know so far about the incident. Meredith, a shelter in place was put in overnight, but that has since been cleared. Yes, it has been lifted. Now behind me here, Kelly is South Charleston by here in Springfield.

This is as close as we can get to those train tracks before law enforcement has blocked off this part of the road. And beyond that, there is where the train tracks are and where that derailment happened. And we do know that this train was traveling to Birmingham, Alabama from Bellevue, Ohio. It's about two hours from where it derailed here in Springfield, Ohio. And we do know that 28 out of 212 cars ended up derailing. We will do want to make it clear this morning that we have been told that while that train, a Northfolk Southern train, was carrying hazardous material like liquid propane and ethanol, the company says those cars did not derail the ones having hazardous material. Officials with Ohio EPA and Northfolk Southern were on site all day yesterday, stressing there is no risk to the public safety.

Safety is our number one priority. With this derailment, just like every other derailment, we do a full investigation. There was no release of any chemical or any hazardous material to the soil, to the air, to the water. We were, of course, tracking that closely. Here from Ohio EPA there. Now, it also says that it's monitoring the cleanup and that also says that one of the crashed cars spilled what's called plastic pellets, but that's not affecting the soil. The crash down power lines slowing down first responders over the weekend and also left more than 1500 people nearby in the dark.

People living within 1000 feet of the site were also forced to shelter in place. Residents here in the area had mixed reactions. I believe that they acted pretty fast here. I don't know if it's because of, you know, the fact that there was one just a month ago. Or if it's the fact that it's this community, I'm not really for sure about that. But I feel like certain people try to make sure that we're safe. And then you have the people that are involved that are not history and spirit.

I assume that, you know, if it was anything important, I'd probably get on my phone. So you weren't to work because you weren't getting any kind of alert. Yeah, exactly. Now state officials say that they weren't aware that there was any sort of hazardous material on the train, but also say that's normal, which then takes us to Washington, D.C. where Ohio Senator Sarah Brown and JD Van said that that needs to change and are pushing for bipartisan legislation, especially when it comes to train regulation. And last for today, we do expect another update on this derailment later this afternoon at three o'clock reporting live in Springfield, Merida's WLBT News 5.

Merida, thanks so much. Well, Saturday's wreck is now the fourth Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio in the past five months back in October, about 20 cars from a 101 car train derailed at an overpass in Sandusky. That train was carrying a wax chemical that hardened on the roadway and then the sewer system. And then in November, about 15 cars on a train derailed near Stubendville. That accident spilled garbage across the area. And of course, just last month, the train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, prompting multiple evacuations and the cleanup there very much continues. Residents also still nervous about the air and water quality.

Now we have the latest from this most recent train derailment. What this means for people in the area over on our website, WLWT.com. Remember, you can get the most recent updates anytime, anywhere on our mobile app.

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