American Notes Ohio

Residents of Miamisburg, Ohio, found last week that they couldn't go home again after all. Early in the week 15,000 of them were evacuated when 15 cars of a 44-car transport train derailed, causing a tanker filled with phosphorus to explode and spew a plume of noxious white smoke over the small city (pop. 18,000) ten miles southwest of Dayton. Local hospitals treated some 300 people for respiratory problems and eye irritations.

The evacuees began to return home the next day when fire fighters had seemingly brought the burning chemical under control. But while the tanker was being righted, it reignited. As the vapors formed a three-mile-wide cloud that loomed like fog over the area, police cruised through the streets ordering residents to clear out once more. This time almost 30,000 area residents fled. It was the largest evacuation in Ohio history, transforming Miamisburg into a temporary ghost town.