East Palestine Derailment: What Went Wrong?
On February 3, 2023,at approximately 8:55 pm, a train derailment spilled toxic waste all over East Palestine, Ohio. Animals have been dropping dead, water has been contaminated, and the city of East Palestine overall has turned into a toxic wasteland. But what caused this incident? Why is this not being talked about in the news? What in the world is going on? You will have an answer to all of these questions shortly.
To find out more about how the toxic waste leaked, we need to look at the train itself, and how it derailed, causing this mess.
The train itself that derailed was a Norfolk Southern Freight train. This freight train was carrying highly toxic chemicals, such as vinyl chloride, and various other dangerous substances.
The train most likely derailed due to a wheel overheating, as shown in a video monitoring the train’s underside on a website known as globalnews.ca.
After the overheating of the vehicle, a derailment occurred, causing 38 of the 141 cars to go off track, and ultimately crash, leaking out the substances within.
The leakage of vinyl chloride is perhaps the worst thing that escaped from the cars. Vinyl chloride is used to make many plastics when being filtered and supervised in labs, but natural leaks of this are extremely toxic, and can cause cancer or even death, which is why having so much of it dumped onto a small town in Ohio is an awful thing.
Thankfully, no people have reportedly died from the toxins, as the town was evacuated quickly. There still is danger though, as side effects from being exposed to these toxic wastes can sometimes go into action several years after the exposition.
East Palestine before the incident.
Though there are no confirmed cases of human deaths, the opposite is true with animals. Since animals have no way of knowing the danger of the toxicity, they have been perishing to the waste. According to the Washington Post, over 43,000 aquatic animals, such as fish, have died so far, and the toll is likely to be much higher than observed. A number of animals on land dead has not been confirmed yet, though animals on land are passing away as well.
Now, finally, how has the government reacted to this?
Government officials from the past and present have been seen giving aid to east Palestine.
Republican ex-President, Donald J. Trump, was seen at a McDonald’s in East Palestine, who was buying food for all first responders and those affected by the sudden evacuation.
President Biden has sent out toxicologists and medical assistants to help solve and evaluate the situation.
Overall, professional government aid has been sent all around to cleanse the immense toxicity.
With all of that out of the way, you now should know all about the East Palestine derailment, how it happened, and the causes. Hopefully, through education on what caused this, we can improve, and make sure it never happens again.
If you have any comments, questions, or criticisms, feel free to email me.
