Abu dhabi: About 40,000 people were under evacuation orders and schools were shut down Friday in Southern California after a storage tank continued to leak a hazardous chemical used to make plastic parts. Officials warned that the tank could rupture or explode.
According to Emirates News Agency, a storage tank holding between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate overheated Thursday and began venting vapors into the air at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove, a city in Orange County, the county's fire authority reported.
Officials ordered residents in Garden Grove to evacuate and expanded evacuation orders Friday to include some residents of five other Orange County cities: Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park, and Westminster. This decision came after efforts to stop the leak overnight at GKN Aerospace, which manufactures parts for commercial and military aircraft, proved unsuccessful.
No injuries or deaths have been reported, according to authorities.
"We're doing our best to figure out when or how we can prevent it," said Garden Grove Fire Chief Craig Covey during a Friday afternoon press conference. Covey further explained that crews have set up containment barriers with sandbags in case of a chemical spill from the tank, aiming to prevent the chemical from entering storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean. He emphasized that the chemical is highly volatile, toxic, and flammable.
Source: Emirates News Agency
