Day 1521: Train derailment

Chautauqua County residents were extremely fortunate last night that the train derailment wasn't worse.  It had all the ingredients for a major disaster.  It was bad enough to require the immediate evacuation of fifty Ripley families who lived near the tracks.  Sixteen cars left the track and tumbled over.  Two tank cars that were carrying ethanol leaked, but fortunately there was no fire.  Another tank car was carrying propane and another car had ammonia nitrate.  It was an explosive situation that could have had tragic consequences.  Fortunately, no one was injured at all.

The call came in about 9:45 pm and he left home shortly after that. Since there were no injuries, Steve was assigned to act as the public information officer for the night. All night long, he spoke with news agencies, tv stations and reporters. It was quite a change of pace for him.  I was glad he texted me at 12:30 am to tell me so I could go to sleep knowing he was in a safe location.  Then, early this morning, he accompanied several of the evacuees back to their homes to pick up medicines and pets.

He finally got home about 8:30 this morning, slept till noon and then was off to pick up paints for the afternoon musical work party.  We were just leaving the house to go to Cassadaga for backpacking class when Kelly texted that all afternoon activities were cancelled due to weather.  That was surprising since it wasn't even snowing here.  So, it took seven of us working together to clean up all the wood backstage.  It's a bit heartbreaking to put wood in the trash, but we had no choice because there is not enough storage space.

Nate was rocking his pharaoh's costume last night!