The Chalmete-Algiers ferry was closed four hours because of an overturned 18-wheel truck leaking caustic soda, a corrosive material being delivered to the Exxon Mobil/Chalmette Refinery
The Chalmete-Algiers ferry was closed four hours because of an overturned 18-wheel truck leaking caustic soda, a corrosive material being delivered to the Exxon Mobil/Chalmette Refinery
A St. Bernard firefighter places sandbags in the ditch as a precaution in case its water was contaminated by the leaking chemical from the truck, which can be seen in the background.
The ferry between Chalmette and lower Algiers was closed four hours on Wednesday because of an overturned 18-wheel truck leaking caustic soda, a corrosive material being delivered to the Exxon Mobil/Chalmette Refinery, officials from the parish Fire Department and Sheriff James Pohlmann said.
A truck driver, Kendell Robinson, 23, of Baton Rouge, trying to deliver the chemicals to the refinery went into a drainage ditch on the east side of the section of Paris Road between St. Bernard Highway and the Mississipi River, the sheriff said. The ferry is at the end of that road.
Robinson, issued a citation for careless operation of a vehicle, wasn’t injure. But the overturned tanker had a small leak, which the Fire Department tried to contain from going into the drainage ditch, Parish Fire Chief Thomas Stone confirmed.
State Police and an environmental clean-up crew were at the scene, as well trucks and personel to right the 18-wheeler.
The Sheriff’s Office, as well as blocking traffic from St. Bernard Highway to the river, also sent prison work crews with sandbags that were used by firefighters to dam the water in the ditch.
The ferry was closed from about 11:15 a.m. until the road was reopened about 3:30 p.m.
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