(WBRZ News 2) Crews are responding to reports of a tanker leaking a gaseous chemical near a trailer park Monday.
The leak was reported just after noon Monday near the intersection of Airline Highway and Evangeline Street. Authorities say residents are being evacuated from a nearby trailer park as HazMat officers work to clear the pressurized tanker truck leaking acrylamide 50, a mixed chemical.
Baton Rouge fire officials say the truck has an inhibitor to prevent a chemical reaction, but that device appears to be out-of-date and failing. The mixture reportedly began to heat up, but the tank is now venting the gas in order to prevent an explosion.
BRPD says Airline Highway is still open as of 12:30 p.m.
There are about 36 homes in the trailer park on Victoria Drive. A CATS bus is being directed to the Eden Park Branch Library in order to pick up residents and transport them to the shelter location at Gus Young Park. Red Cross is en route to the park to set up the shelter.
A spokesperson at the mayor's office says emergency crews are planning to accommodate between 150 and 200 evacuees in the upcoming days. "We think it could be overnight, but it could go into the next couple of days," Rachel Haney told WBRZ.
No injuries have been reported.