DOON, Iowa — Authorities say crude oil is leaking from one or more of 31 tanker cars that have derailed in northwest Iowa.
BNSF railroad spokesman Andy Williams said no one was injured when the cars derailed around 4:30 a.m. Friday just south of Doon in Lyon County. Officials on the scene aren’t sure whether floodwater from the swollen Little Rock River caused the cars to leave the tracks.
Williams says he doesn’t yet know how much oil has leaked and how many cars are leaking. Cleanup crews have been dispatched.
Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep says four homes near the site have been evacuated. He says the oil is being carried downstream into the Rock River a few hundred yards west.
The Rock River has gone out of its banks as well and is expected to crest later Friday at Rock Valley, less than 5 miles downstream.
