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A tanker truck leaked hazardous ammonia gas in the parking lot of a hotel in Weatherford, Oklahoma, prompting a large-scale evacuation of the city and leading to multiple hospitalizations, authorities reported on Thursday.
Emergency officials lifted a shelter-in-place directive on Thursday morning, following an intense overnight operation where firefighters, equipped with gas masks, went door-to-door advising residents to evacuate due to the anhydrous ammonia leak.
Weatherford Regional Hospital’s emergency room received 36 patients, according to hospital president Darin Farrell. Out of these, one individual was admitted in stable condition, while 10 others were transferred to hospitals in Oklahoma City. The status of the transferred patients remains unknown.
Earlier, Police Chief Angelo Orefice mentioned that four individuals were in critical condition.
The incident began late Wednesday when the tanker truck started emitting ammonia, causing immediate respiratory issues for people in the vicinity, city officials explained during a press briefing.
At least 500 to 600 people went to a shelter early Thursday while others were ordered to remain inside their homes for several hours. Some nursing homes were evacuated, and schools were closed for the day.
Trisha Doucet called police for help when she learned the leak was blocks away from where her mother was caring for her bed-bound 89-year-old grandmother. An ambulance was quickly dispatched to get her to safety.
Her grandmother, who is on hospice, was reluctant to leave. “But this is my house,” she said.
Doucet, who used to work as an EMT and knew the dangers of anhydrous ammonia, recalled telling her grandmother, “That’s the hardest part. I know it’s your house, but you really have to go.”
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The driver of the truck carrying the gas had parked behind a Holiday Inn Express to get a room there for the evening, Orefice said. The cause seemed to be a mechanical failure on a valve or a faulty seal, the police chief said.
Anhydrous ammonia is used as a farm fertilizer to help corn and wheat grow. The colorless gas has a pungent, suffocating odor and can be deadly, especially at high concentrations, or cause breathing problems and burns to the skin and eyes.
Just last week, an anhydrous ammonia leak caused by an explosion at a plant near Yazoo City, Mississippi, prompted evacuations and sent a plume of yellowish smoke rising above the facility.
Two years ago, five people died in Illinois when a tanker truck spilled anhydrous ammonia after it was forced off a road by a passing minivan.
The cleanup in Weatherford – a city of 12,000 people about 70 miles west of Oklahoma City – could take several days, the police chief said.
“We pretty much got a lot of of this stuff diluted right now,” Orefice said, adding that authorities were working with environmental officials.
Authorities said the air quality was being monitored and that the tanker truck was no longer leaking. A number of agencies were assisting, including hazmat crews and an Oklahoma National Guard.
Industrial gas distributor Airgas said it was working with local authorities. “Anhydrous ammonia warrants cautious handling and management,” the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company said in a statement, urging people in Weatherford to follow instructions from authorities in the area.
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland. Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
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