Voluntary evacuations after train carrying chemicals derails By ABC13 Eyewitness News (8/05/01) — A train carrying hazardous chemicals derails in Montgomery county (Texas) sending residents fleeing from their homes. Emergency crews are on the scene of that derailment. Early Sunday morning, at least 15 cars of a Burlington Northern train derailed in southwest Montgomery County at the FM 149 Spur and Dobbin Huffsmith Road. That's just east of Magnolia and north of Tomball. We're told the train was carrying potentially hazardous chemicals which may be leaking. The only chemical that has been confirmed to be on the train at this time is benzene.

Emergency crews are facing a potentially explosive situation because a gas pipeline runs parallel to the tracks. Because of that, the sheriff's department is asking people in nearby neighborhoods to evacuate. People living on Pleasant Valley and Leonard Streets, and Running Wood Court. And residents in the Old Mill Lake Subdivision are being asked to leave their homes. A shelter has been set up at the First Baptist Church in Magnolia.

-- Rich Marsh (marshr@airmail.net), August 05, 2001