Chlorine gas leak keeps students from walking home

A chlorine gas leak shut down a northeast Austin, Texas neighborhood for six hours Thursday. Students at Bluebonnet Elementary were not allowed to walk home and rode the bus instead.

Texas (KVUE Austin) May 20, 2010 -- A chlorine gas leak shut down a northeast Austin, Texas neighborhood for six hours Thursday.

“About 100 pounds leaked from a 150-pound tank,” said an Austin firefighter. The Austin Fire Department Hazardous Material team was called to an Austin water treatment plant in the Harris Branch area around 10 a.m. Thursday.

Employees noticed a tank was leaking a small amount of chlorine. Special operation crews were quick to stop the leak. As a precaution, the fire department evacuated more than a dozen homes near the water treatment plant. They were afraid when they tried to move the tank it would start leaking again.

Students at Bluebonnet Elementary rode the bus home. They were not allowed to walk home.

Crews removed the tank around 6 p.m. Thursday. The water treatment plant is back to normal operations.

Link: http://www.kvue.com/news/Chlorine-gas-leak--promts-evacuationi-of-northeast--94541749.html

Source: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report