GLENDORA, Miss. — Residents of the small town that was evacuated following a derailment and hazardous-materials fire last week are now expressing concern over health risks resulting from the incident.
The non-profit news site Mississippi Today reports the derailment damaged the town’s water main, leading to a boil-water notice that has since been lifted, and that the state Department of Environmental Quality said air monitoring has showed no detectable levels of benzene. A tank car of the substance, used in gasoline and other applications including detergents and presticides, caught fire after a Canadian National Railway train derailed last Saturday. [See “CN derailment in Mississippi …,” Trains News Wire, July 5, 2025.] Air monitoring continues as a precaution.
But two residents told Mississippi Today that they and their children had experienced headaches, fatigue, and other symptoms, and one of the women, Desiree Simmons, said she was “scared to use” the community’s water: “We’ll probably take a shower or something, but I haven’t even cooked because I’m scared of the water.”
Johnny B. Thomas, mayor of the community of about 140 people some 100 miles south of Memphis, Tenn., was critical of the response to the incident. “They did not evacuate us in a timely manner and in an urgent manner as it should have been with this type of chemical exposure,” he said.
CN directed Mississippi Today’s request for comment to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident. Parties to an NTSB investigation are limited in their ability to address an incident under investigation. The NTSB said it would have its preliminary report on the incident within 30 days.
An important question is what was the DOT number of the leaking tank car?
Enter the lawyers.