Four Union Pacific chemical tanker cars have derailed in Louisiana, prompting emergency officials to order a precautionary overnight evacuation of two nearby subdivisions.
Authorities said the cars derailed about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the West Baton Rouge Parish town of Addis.
Union Pacific spokesman Jeff DeGraff said the derailment happened as the train was switching to a different track on its way out of the Addis railyard. He said investigators are trying to determine what caused it.
Two of the cars were carrying flammable chemicals and two others caustic chemicals, but a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality said none was leaking. No injuries were reported.
West Baton Rouge Parish spokeswoman Lynn Cline said evacuations were ordered at 175 to 200 houses within 1,000 feet of the track where the cars derailed.
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