Ohio train derailment: Sheriff warns of possible arrests as evacuation order issued

We continue to file the breaking news of that train derailment in East Palestine, OH, near Youngstown. Right now, officials are concerned with a catastrophic tanker failure that could cause an explosion any minute, sending shrapnel flying. Thousands of people are under evacuation orders near the site of that derailment, and as of 8:00 PM last night, Governor Mike Dewine activated the National Guard to help out. Our Brianna Dahlquist is live in East Palestine, the small village in Columbiana County, about 88 miles southeast of Cleveland. Near the Pennsylvania border and she joins us now live from the command

center. And Brianna, certainly something that we have been watching all morning long. What’s the latest? Yeah. Good morning. Well, the latest is I’m right in front of the command center where they’ve been helping evacuees this morning. Take a look behind me. You’ll see people working this morning getting people evacuated. We’re just, you know, across down the street, really, from East Palestine High School, monitoring this very dangerous trail derail derailment. It’s also set up here for a place for thousands of people who have already evacuated. Their homes can come and seek shelter. Governor Mike Dewine issued

an urgent evacuation. Notice around 8:00 PM last night warning that officials deemed this area unsafe due to hazardous materials that the train was carrying. Officials warn

of a catastrophic tanker failure, which has the potential to cause a deadly explosion that would send sharpnel flying in all directions. This this catastrophic failure. If it if it occurs, it will produce hydrogen chloride, it fogging gas into the atmosphere. We are working with several federal agencies to determine a plume cloud for that we may need at some point in the near future to extend our mile radius out based

on their professional recommendations and the the models that they run. Yeah. And officials warn of a catastrophic tanker failure like he mentioned. But overnight, fire officials have continued to monitor the flames and the chemicals being leaked, warning that more people could be evacuated in the time to come. And within the last hour or so, the sheriff actually posted online that there will be St. closures until about 8:00 AM. So we’re just monitoring that as well. But as I mentioned earlier, this is a very serious matter. We have Red Cross right behind me working, getting people

evacuated. We won’t show. They’re faced due to, you know, protecting their privacy. But there have been multiple families coming in here at the East Palestine High School. But we’re going to continue to track this for you on air and on our website at wkyc.com. Guys, I’m Brianna. Thank you so much. And we know that as of last check, there were about 500 people who were refusing to evacuate. And at that press conference, they mentioned that they might be facing charges because of the danger that it’s posing, especially if there are children in the household that

are refusing to evacuate. So something we’re gonna be watching as the National Guard is helping out this morning. Yeah, no question. Alright. And again, as Brianna said, you can get the latest online and we will keep you updated, right?