By Saturday morning, railroad staff, a HazMat team and DNR were on site. About 20 railcars left the track. Several contained lumber, corn oil, corn syrup and polyethylene pellets. One car went down the riverbank, leaking polyethylene pellets into the river.
The Hazmat team set up a boom around the railcar and at the first river crossing downstream. The booms caught some of the pellets, pushing them towards the bank. However, some pellets will make it into the Des Moines River. DNR checked the river in several places and saw no immediate environmental impacts.
A carload of corn syrup, about 30,000 gallons, leaked and soaked into the ground in a heavily vegetated area north of the tracks. None of it is expected to reach the river. Cleanup will be difficult because of the many trees.
DNR is onsite today and will continue to monitor the situation. DNR will consider appropriate enforcement action.
