A number of freight prepare automobiles derailed onto the banks of the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, in Pennsylvania on Saturday, the authorities stated. No accidents or leaks had been reported.
Northampton County Emergency Administration Providers and the Lehigh County hazardous supplies staff responded to the derailment in Decrease Saucon Township, Pa., about 10 miles east of Allentown, and had been evaluating the injury.
There have been “no evacuations, no accidents and no leaks from any containers,” Northampton County stated on its Fb web page.
Footage of the derailment, which occurred simply earlier than 8 a.m., shared on social media present two locomotives on the banks of the river, one in every of them partially submerged, and several other container automobiles derailed.
“Crucial factor we are able to do for our first responders is avoid the location,” the county wrote in capital letters.
Northampton County Emergency Administration Providers didn’t instantly reply to a request for data.
Norfolk Southern, the railroad firm that was working the prepare, was additionally on the website of the derailment conducting an evaluation, the county stated. Norfolk Southern, which owns the Lehigh Line, a serious freight railroad route that snakes by New Jersey and Pennsylvania, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The Lehigh River supplies consuming water for a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals, and as a tributary of the Delaware River, it contributes to a consuming water provide for 15 million individuals, in keeping with American Rivers, an environmental nonprofit.
In January, Norfolk Southern agreed to affix a federal security reporting program after scrutiny of the disastrous prepare derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023. In that crash, dozens of freight automobiles carrying hazardous supplies derailed and caught hearth, enveloping town with poisonous smoke and contaminating consuming water provides.
From 2018 to 2022, Northampton County recorded 26 rail accidents or incidents leading to 13 reported accidents and no fatalities, in keeping with a hazardous mitigation plan.
The Lehigh Valley, an traditionally agricultural area, has been creating lately right into a hub for warehouses.
