On Thursday, residents of Kanawha County, West Virginia, noticed a stink — similar to licorice — in the air. After an investigation by the local fire department and the state Department of Environmental Protection, the odor was linked to a leak of a coal processing substance into the Elk River at the city of Charleston.
As of Friday, almost 300,000 Americans in nine counties where a state of emergency has been declared by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin have been warned not to drink, bathe in, or cook with their tap water.
"The water has been contaminated," said Tomblin. "West
Virginians in the affected service areas are urged not to use tap water
for drinking, cooking, washing or bathing.”
“Right now, our priorities are our hospitals, nursing
homes, and schools," he said in a statement. "I've been working with our
National Guard and Office of Emergency Services in an effort to provide
water and supplies through the county emergency services offices as
quickly as possible."
Up to 5,000 gallons of 4-Methylcyclohexane
Methanol, a foaming agent used to wash coal before it goes to market,
is thought to have leaked from a 48,000-gallon tank in Freedom
Industries’ storage facility. The compound can cause symptoms ranging
from skin and eye irritation and rashes to vomiting and diarrhea.
"We'd like to start by sincerely apologizing to the people
in the affected counties of West Virginia," company President Gary
Southern said
to West Virginia residents. "Our friends and our neighbors, this
incident is extremely unfortunate, unanticipated and we are very, very
sorry for the disruptions to everybody's daily life this incident has
caused."
Still with six emergency room visits as of Friday, long
lines at supermarkets and state operated distribution centers to buy
bottled water, paper cups and bowls and many schools closed, Charleston
Mayor Danny Jones said
it's a disaster: "Everything is closing and that means the Marriott
Hotel, that means our Town Center Mall. No restaurant is allowed to open
because you can't legally open without water."
"It's caused us more problems than you could ever imagine,"
Jones said Friday night, pointing out people can't do things like wash
their hands after going to bathroom or wash their clothes.
"... It's a prison from which we would like to be released," he said.
No comments :
Post a Comment