Oil leaks into floodwaters after train derailment

CITY SHUTS OFF DRINKING WATER WELLS

A freight train derailed in northwest Iowa on Friday, leaking crude oil from at least one of 31 tankers into flooded fields flanking the tracks and raising concerns about the possible contamination of residential water supplies, officials said.

BNSF railroad spokesman Andy Williams said no one was injured when the cars derailed around 4:30 a.m. Friday just south of Doon in Lyon County.

Officials at the scene aren’t sure whether floodwater fromthe swollen Little Rock River caused the cars to leave the tracks. The river rose rapidly Wednesday after five to seven inches (13 to 18 centimetres) of rain fell Wednesday and a further downpour on Thursday.

A broadening sheen of oil spread near several of the tankers, which had piled up across the track and earthen berm, some submerged in thewater.

News of the spill was enough to prompt officials in Rock Valley, a small city about 5 miles (8.05 kilometres) southwest of the derailment, to shut off all the city’s drinking water wells. The water towers also will be drained as a precaution, said Rock Valley public information officer Travis Olson. In the meantime, the city is getting its water fromthe nearby Rock Valley RuralWater system, which Olson said is not in danger of being contaminated by the spill.

The city, with a population of nearly 3,400, will stay on the rural water system until testing by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources confirms the safety of the city’s drinking water, Olson said.

“I don’t know how long that will be,” he said. “It sounds like the cleanup is going to take a while.”

Williams said he was unsure how much oil leaked and how many of the cars were leaking. Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep said the oil was being carried downstream into the Rock River a few hundred yards west of the derailment.