GRANITEVILLE - Spring cleaning came early for Cindy Bates this year.
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Kendrez Sapp, 5, and his grandmother, Cindy Bates, watch as Ryan Ahler tests for chemicals in their Graniteville home.
Michael Holahan/Staff
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The Graniteville grandmother was one of about 800 residents permitted to return home Saturday after officials reopened a section of Graniteville neighborhoods quarantined since the fatal Norfolk Southern train wreck and chlorine spill Jan. 6.
But even back in the comfort of her home in New Hope Community apartment complex, Ms. Bates couldn't get settled just yet.
She faced a tremendous cleanup effort.
Ms. Bates first had to mop the floors, wipe down cabinets and counters and wash the bedding in her mother's apartment across the street before she could begin work on her own place.
"It's got to be done, and I'm hoping everyone will pitch in," she said, gesturing at her grown son and daughter, who accompanied her to the apartment.
Since Thursday, 4,200 of Graniteville's 5,400 evacuated residents were allowed to return home after officials determined the neighborhoods were free of chemical contaminants, said Lt. Michael Frank, a spokesman for the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. The Center for Toxicology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted more than 500 additional air quality tests at residents' request and Norfolk Southern's. expense. None revealed any signs of chlorine.
Beginning at 8:30 a.m. today, Graniteville residents living south of Seastrunk Street and on the north and south side of Hester Lane can return to their homes.
Lt. Frank did not know how many residents lived in that evacuation zone.
Evacuation zones still remain intact closest to the wreck site, where Norfolk Southern Train 192 crashed into a locomotive parked on a spur line.
Authorities have not decided when they will reopen those evacuation zones, Lt. Frank said.
The reoccupation process seemed to progress smoothly for most everyone except Wesley McCarthy.
The Graniteville resident returned home to find that his house, which sits at Gregg and Seastrunk streets, was still within an evacuation zone.
EPA officials who began testing the air quality in his home alerted him that his house had missed the cut by a few yards.
They ceased their home inspection and plan to return today.
"My house is on the line of demarcation," said Mr. McCarthy, a counselor who works at Augusta State Medical Prison. "I was going to take all the comforters in the house to the laundromat, but technically I can't get out because I'm not supposed to be here. I'm afraid they won't let me back in."
With his cleanup efforts on hold, he decided to inspect his three cars in the back yard for chlorine corrosion, which damaged several vehicles close to the wreck site.
"The first thing I did was lifted up the hood to see if there was any corrosion," he said. "I started all of them up, and they started up fine."
Although Mr. McCarthy was determined to stay in his home, which he left more than a week ago during a mandatory evacuation, his wife refused to return.
"My wife is saying she doesn't want to come home until a cleaning crew has cleaned everything from top to bottom and shampooed the carpets," he said. "That's good for me. At least I don't have to do it."
As a growing number of Graniteville's residential neighborhoods reopened, so did major thoroughfares.
U.S. Highway 1 reopened to traffic Saturday, and in Aiken, all lanes of Richland Avenue between Gregg Street and South Carolina Highway 118 are open.
Meanwhile, more Avondale Mills employees will return to work Tuesday when the Gregg and Hickman division plants resume partial operation, said Stephen Felker Jr., the company's corporate development manager.
A supervisor will contact employees at those facilities if they are needed to work.
Company officials have not decided when they will reopen the Woodhead Division plant, the facility that suffered the heaviest chlorine contamination.
"We're not sure exactly sure when we'll be able to begin the cleanup and resume operations there," Mr. Felker said.
The company continues to phase employees back on the job in the Swint, Townsend and Horse Creek division plants.
Once officials dissolve evacuation zones around the derailment site, Avondale Mills security guards will help employees retrieve their vehicles that were left in the Hickman and Woodhead division plant parking lots, Mr. Felker said.
A safety expert will meet employees at their cars to examine the physical condition and test for chlorine contamination.
The company also announced Saturday that it would establish a fund to help Avondale Mills employees affected by the train collision. In the meantime, the company will continue to pay all employees who cannot work because their facilities are not operating.
Cleanup efforts continued Saturday at the derailment site. Norfolk Southern moved 10 rail cars carrying steel coils, paper and other debris.
Salvage workers were still draining the chlorine tanker that was punctured in the wreck, and the EPA was monitoring the transfer of chlorine vapor from the damaged rail car.
The railroad has provided financial assistance to roughly 3,000 people for lost wages, personal injuries, property damage and lodging expenses as a result of the train collision and chlorine spill.
Reach Krista Zilizi at (803) 648-1395, ext. 106, or krista.zilizi@augustachronicle.com.
Special Section: Graniteville Train Wreck
On January 6, 2005, a Norfolk Southern Corp. freight train carrying chemicals hit a parked train near an Avondale Mills plant in Graniteville, South Carolina. The impact caused poisonous chlorine gas to leak from three of the moving train's cars. Nine people were killed and more than 5,000 people were evacuated from the site.
For complete coverage of the Graniteville train wreck, visit our special section.
