Ammonia gas leak from a tanker truck in Oklahoma sickens dozens and forces evacuations

WEATHERFORD, Okla. — A leaking tanker truck spewed dangerous ammonia gas in a hotel parking lot, forcing hundreds of residents in a small Oklahoma city to evacuate and sending several dozen people to the hospital, authorities said Thursday.

Officials lifted a shelter-in-place order Thursday morning, hours after firefighters wearing gas masks went door-to-door in Weatherford, waking people up and telling them to leave because of fumes from the anhydrous ammonia leak.

The local hospital treated 36 people in its emergency room, said Darin Farrell, president of Weatherford Regional Hospital. One person was admitted in good condition and 10 were taken to hospitals in Oklahoma City, he said. He did not know the conditions of those who were transferred.

Police Chief Angelo Orefice earlier said that four patients were in critical condition.

The tanker truck began billowing ammonia late Wednesday, causing those in the immediate area to suffer from respiratory distress, city officials said at a news conference.

At least 500 to 600 people went to a shelter early Thursday while others were ordered to remain inside their homes for several hours. Some nursing homes were evacuated, and schools were closed for the day.

Trisha Doucet called police for help when she learned the leak was blocks away from where her mother was caring for her bed-bound 89-year-old grandmother. An ambulance was quickly dispatched to get her to safety.

Her grandmother, who is on hospice, was reluctant to leave. “But this is my house,” she said.

Doucet, who used to work as an EMT and knew the dangers of anhydrous ammonia, recalled telling her grandmother, “That’s the hardest part. I know it’s your house, but you really have to go.”

The driver of the truck carrying the gas had parked behind a Holiday Inn Express to get a room there for the evening, Orefice said. The cause seemed to be a mechanical failure on a valve or a faulty seal, the police chief said.

Anhydrous ammonia is used as a farm fertilizer to help corn and wheat grow. The colorless gas has a pungent, suffocating odor and can be deadly, especially at high concentrations, or cause breathing problems and burns to the skin and eyes.

Just last week, an anhydrous ammonia leak caused by an explosion at a plant near Yazoo City, Mississippi, prompted evacuations and sent a plume of yellowish smoke rising above the facility.

Two years ago, five people died in Illinois when a tanker truck spilled anhydrous ammonia after it was forced off a road by a passing minivan.

The cleanup in Weatherford — a city of 12,000 people about 70 miles west of Oklahoma City — could take several days, the police chief said.

“We pretty much got a lot of of this stuff diluted right now,” Orefice said, adding that authorities were working with environmental officials.

Authorities said the air quality was being monitored and that the tanker truck was no longer leaking. A number of agencies were assisting, including hazmat crews and an Oklahoma National Guard.

Industrial gas distributor Airgas said it was working with local authorities. “Anhydrous ammonia warrants cautious handling and management,” the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company said in a statement, urging people in Weatherford to follow instructions from authorities in the area.