40,000 people under evacuation orders after chemical tank leak in Southern California

A storage tank at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove overheated and began venting methyl methacrylate vapors. Officials ordered residents to leave and expanded evacuation orders to some residents in five nearby Orange County cities after the leak could not be stopped overnight. The tank held between 6,000 and 7,000 gallons of the chemical used to make plastic parts. Authorities warned the tank could fail by cracking and releasing chemical onto the ground or could explode. No injuries or deaths were reported. Crews created containment barriers with sandbags to help prevent chemical from entering storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean. Disneyland was not under evacuation orders.

"About 40,000 people were under evacuation orders and schools shut down Friday in Southern California after a storage tank continued to leak a hazardous chemical used to make plastic parts that officials said could rupture or explode. 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 said."

"Officials ordered residents in Garden Grove to leave and expanded evacuations orders Friday to some residents of five other Orange County cities Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster after being unable to stop the leak overnight on the tank at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. No injuries or deaths have been reported, authorities said."

""This is not precautionary. This thing is going to fail, and we don't know when," said Garden Grove Fire Chief Craig Covey during a Friday afternoon press conference. "We're doing our best to figure out when or how we can prevent it." Covey said the tank could fail and crack, releasing the chemical onto the ground, or it could explode."

"Covey said crews have created containment barriers with sandbags in case there is a chemical spill from the tank to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean. He said the chemical is highly volatile, toxic"

Read at www.npr.org