Around noon, an explosion occurred inside an intermodal container on a railcar at Union Pacific's Bailey Yard in North Platte.
OMAHA, Neb. — An explosion inside a shipping container at the world’s largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire.
Authorities evacuated everyone within a four-mile radius of the explosion in the western end of the railyard because of the smoke, and U.S. Highway 30 was closed between North Platte and Hershey. Interstate 80 wasn’t affected by the smoke. North Platte, which is about 230 miles east of Denver and about 250 miles west of Omaha, has a population of about 23,000.
The railyard where the explosion happened covers 2,850 acres and stretches as wide as eight miles at one point. A few years ago, an eight-story tall observation tower was built to allow people to watch thousands of railcars be sorted from one train to another on Union Pacific’s key east-west corridor.
Two plumes of smoke rose from the blast site, Robertson said. “The east plume was like black smoke. The west plume was orange smoke, something like I’ve not seen from a fire,” he said.
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Explosion at Union Pacific railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smokeAn explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire.
Read more »
Explosion at Union Pacific railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smokeAn explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire
Read more »
Explosion at Union Pacific railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smokeAn explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire
Read more »
Explosion at world's largest railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smokeAn explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire
Read more »
Explosion at world's largest railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smokeAn explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire
Read more »
Explosion at Nebraska railyard prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smokeAn explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire
Read more »