PORTLAND, Ore. — A train towing cars full of oil derailed Friday in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge, sparking a fire that sent a plume of black smoke high into the sky and leading to evacuations.
The accident happened around noon near the town of Mosier, about 70 miles east of Portland. Eleven rail cars from a 96-car crude oil train derailed, according to a statement from Union Pacific Railroad.
No injuries have been reported.
About 200 students were evacuated from an elementary and middle school near the scene.
Interstate 84 was closed for a 23-mile stretch between The Dalles and Mosier and the radius for evacuations was a half-mile.
Silas Bleakley was working at his restaurant in Mosier when the train derailed.
“You could feel it through the ground. It was more of a feeling than a noise,” he told The Associated Press as smoke billowed from the tankers.
Bleakley said he went outside, saw the smoke and got in his truck and drove about 2,000 feet to a bridge that crosses the railroad tracks. Read more…
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