Aches, rashes and fear: Trauma remains after Ohio derailment

JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Heather Bable speaks rapidly, recalling the terror of the night when a train loaded with hazardous chemicals derailed Feb. 3 less than a half-mile from her home in East Palestine, Ohio. She heard an earthshaking boom and, from her bathroom window, “all you saw was the flames.”

“I kind of kept myself under control, told my kids, ‘OK, guys, we have to leave,'” Bable says. “… The only thing I knew was I had to get my kids to safety. Take just the necessary things and get out of there.”

<p>Heather Bable and her son, Ashton, pose for a photograph Feb. 25 at Sprinklz On Top, a restaurant in East Palestine, Ohio.</p>

John Flesher, Associated Press

Heather Bable and her son, Ashton, pose for a photograph Feb. 25 at Sprinklz On Top, a restaurant in East Palestine, Ohio.

Days after the derailment, after evacuating thousands of residents nearby, crews vented and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five cars to prevent an uncontrolled explosion, sending another black plume skyward.

Bable’s voice catches, tears welling in weary eyes, as she describes eight days in a hotel and an uneasy return home; hoarseness, congestion, nausea and itchy rashes; inconclusive doctor visits; the “god-awful smell” that disturbs her at night; anger at train company Norfolk Southern over the crash and government agencies she thinks responded too slowly.

And constant fear — to breathe the air, drink the water, let her 8-year-old son play outdoors. 

Her family has lived in East Palestine for four generations. Now, at 45, Bable is eager to move. So is her mother, who has been here even longer.

“We don’t feel safe anymore,” Bable says at Sprinklz On Top, a cozy downtown diner. She pulls a bottle of water from her jacket pocket and takes a sip. She won’t drink from the tap.

She glances at a smartphone application that reports local air quality. “Just a couple of days ago, when it was so beautiful, I didn’t dare to open my windows, because I didn’t want the air to come in,” she said.

Fear and mistrust still grip many in the village of 4,700 whipsawed by government assurances that the air and water are safe; warnings from activists like Erin Brockovich about coverups and danger for years to come; and misinformation on social media.

Outrage against the railroad company, widely condemned for failing to prevent the disaster and doing too little afterward, is palpable. A married couple recently sold yard signs reading, “Together we stand against Norfolk Southern,” from a sidewalk table to benefit the fire department. Business was brisk.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw expressed regret and pledged a thorough cleanup.

Sherry Bable, 64, stands near the roadblock keeping gawkers from the derailment site. Her house is just down the street. Heather Bable lives a couple blocks away with Ashton and her 25-year-old daughter, Paige.

“Every time I hear a train, all I keep thinking is, ‘Oh my god, don’t let nothing happen this time,'” Sherry Bable says. “And I’m not the only one in town like that.”

<p>Sherry Bable stands Feb. 25 beside Sulphur Run in East Palestine, Ohio, near the spot where a train derailed.</p>

John Flesher, Associated Press

Sherry Bable stands Feb. 25 beside Sulphur Run in East Palestine, Ohio, near the spot where a train derailed.

She gazes sadly at Sulphur Run, a creek near the railroad. It’s now among waterways getting “KEEP OUT” signs amid testing and cleanup. Nearly 4.85 million gallons of liquid wastewater and 2,980 tons of soil have been hauled away, Gov. Mike DeWine’s office says.

“That railroad company should buy all these houses, tear them down — get families that’s got kids first, get the elderly ones out, and then work with everybody else,” Bable says. “Because I still say this stuff is going to cause cancer.”

Federal agencies say prolonged exposure to vinyl chloride — primarily through inhalation — is associated with increased risk of some cancers. But experts say living near a spill doesn’t necessarily elevate risk, and proving links between individual cases and pollutants is hard.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Norfolk Southern has yet to report exactly how much vinyl chloride was released. EPA is monitoring air at 29 outdoor stations and tested it inside more than 600 homes, finding no vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride — an irritant that can be generated when vinyl chloride is burned. It ordered Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins.

University researchers from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon say their own sampling from a mobile lab picked up chemicals including vinyl chloride and acrolein — a foul-smelling, probable carcinogen that can form during burning of fuels, wood and plastics.

Most readings fell below minimum-risk levels for people exposed less than a year. But acrolein levels were high enough in some places to raise long-term health concerns, said Albert Presto, a Carnegie Mellon mechanical engineering research professor.

Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio’s health director, said in February that foul odors and symptoms such as headaches can be triggered by air contaminants at levels well below what’s unsafe.

State officials also say no contaminants associated with the derailment were found in the municipal water supply or in 136 private wells. Norfolk Southern plans soil sampling, with farmland a priority.

After more than a week in a hotel, Sherry Bable returned home. The next morning, she had congestion, a hoarse throat and itchy eyes, she said. Since then, she’s had irritating red skin patches, headaches and a “goopy” substance in her eyes.

Heather Bable, interviewed three weeks after the crash, showed selfies of red face and neck splotches. The previous night, a powerful “burned plastic” stench woke her. The odors are worse at night, as cleanup work continues, she says.

The state opened a free clinic where residents get medical exams and meet with mental health specialists and a toxicologist. State and federal teams also distributed more than 2,200 informational flyers, according to EPA, which has an information center in town.

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