VALLEY MILLS, Texas — About a dozen train cars derailed in Central Texas, and an industrial solvent leaked from one tanker, authorities said Sunday.
Trooper D.L. Wilson, a Department of Public Safety spokesman, said no injuries or fires were reported in the Saturday evening accident near Valley Mills. About four homes were evacuated as a precaution. The cause of the derailment has not been determined.
Wilson said safety officials initially thought methanol was leaking, but later discovered it was dimethylformamide, which can cause nausea and vomiting if inhaled.
BNSF Railway spokesman Joe Faust said about 7,000 gallons of the flammable liquid spilled but it was contained and posed no threat. He said the cleanup was expected to be finished by late Sunday night.
Valley Mills is about 25 miles northwest of Waco.
There have been a rash of train derailments across the country over the last few months.
Fourteen tank cars carrying ethanol jumped the tracks north of Dubuque, Iowa, and three of them burst into flames on Feb. 4. Twelve days later, 28 tank cars carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire in rural West Virginia. Twenty-one tank cars derailed and leaked crude oil within yards of a tributary of the Mississippi River in rural Illinois on March 5.