PAULINA, La. — Thursday night the majority of residents who were evacuated after an acid spill have been allowed to go home. Nearly 200 residents were evacuated due to safety concerns in St. James Parish.
Only two families still aren’t allowed home after the train derailed in Paulina, in St James Parish which led to a hydrochloric acid spill.
Dennis Snyeer is back home, after he and his family were forced to evacuate. Snyeer says, “The deputies came to our house around 2pm, and said stay inside and turn the air conditioners off and they came back about 20 minutes later and they said we had to get out.”
He went on to say, "We stayed in LaPlace to about 2pm and we were able to come back home so we came back home.”
Snyeer has lived on his property for 30 years and says he's never seen anything like this.
“We were inside the trailer and all of a sudden the trailer just shook like that. My oldest son said, 'damn daddy must’ve hit a car. I got a little wagon I ride and see the train guy doing this and I seen the stuff coming out and said that’s some bad stuff,' Snyeer said.
Out back, his vegetable garden suffering visible damage from the spill. Cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli all lost, he's not sure if it’s safe to even harvest.
A neighbors security camera catching the moment the train derailed.
RELATED: 150 evacuated after train car carrying 20,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid derails in Paulina
St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin checking in on residents who will sleep in their own beds tonight. Sheriff Martin says cleanup crews are making progress mitigating the 20,000 gallons of acid that spilled from the train on Wednesday, with most of the acid that leaked out of the train cars now neutralized and no longer a threat.
He says the two families not yet home will be back home Friday, "Unfortunately they are closest to the spill and there’s still some mitigation issues there, it is clear and everybody agrees it is not a good thing to let everybody return to their home and not have full access to their property.”
Sheriff Willy Martin, residents who have returned home who smell anything, just a little bit odd to call the sheriffs office and they will get air quality control to come out and they will investigate.
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