UPDATE: Highway 43 northbound reopens after chemical leak in Creola
Editor’s Note: We have corrected this article to include the latest information from sources.
UPDATE (6:30 p.m.): Some drivers and business owners along Highway 43 spoke to News 5 about how the leak affected their day-to-day commute.
Owner of Toli’s Bistro, Danny Phillips, said he hasn’t seen his usual lunch crowd because of the road closure earlier Monday.
“A lot of our traffic would come from the mills in the plants,” Phillips said. “That’s north on 43. We do get some residents who live south, but with the road being closed right now, they’re really not much of reason for them to get out of the house.”
Drivers felt the pain of not being able to take their usual road heading north.
“I got to Creola around 9 and got to Bishop State right at 9:30; I did my interview and I got back here [Creola] around 10,” Grove Hill resident Tyler Slayton said. “You know, just everything was kind of closed off. So, I went back to Saraland and went and got some ice cream, came back, and I’m stuck here again.”
“Just trying to get there man,” Robert Richardson from Leroy said. “Hoping they would all, you know, turn loose from traffic on the way. I’m hoping that it wouldn’t that be as serious as I think it might be, but who knows?”
UPDATE (4:25 p.m.): The Mobile County Commission has provided an update about traffic near a dangerous chemical leak in Creola.
“Highway 43 is open for travel using the northbound lanes (one lane in each direction),” a county spokesperson said. “Once cleanup is completed, both the northbound and southbound lanes will be reopened.”
UPDATE (3:55 p.m.): The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says a temporary plan is in place to get traffic moving again in the area affected by the Creola chemical leak.
“A temporary traffic pattern is being utilized to open the roadway,” an ALEA spokesperson said. “The northbound lanes of U.S. 43 between the 12 mile marker and 17 mile marker are being utilized for both northbound and southbound traffic.”
UPDATE (2:30 p.m.): The truck driver involved in this single-vehicle incident has been hospitalized, News 5 has learned.
In addition, three people on the site and one of the first responders at the scene reportedly were taken to the hospital.
A Mobile County spokesperson said they don’t know the hospitalized people’s conditions nor do they know the agency of the first responder hospitalized.
The shelter-in-place advisory for U.S. Highway 43, between Creax and Radcliff Roads in north Mobile County, has been lifted, the spokesperson said.
“The vehicle to which HAZMAT crews responded has been secured,” the spokesperson said. “Both the northbound and southbound lanes of Highway 43 remain closed while the remaining cleanup occurs.
“It is estimated that Hwy 43 will be reopened prior to the evening commute.”
UPDATE (12:45 p.m.): News 5 has learned more about this dangerous chemical leak in Creola.
A Mobile County Commission spokesperson said a valve was loose in a truck, causing a substance to leak.
That substance was nitric acid, the MCC spokesperson confirmed.
Despite sources initially saying otherwise, the chemical leak did not lead to a fire, they said.
ORIGINAL STORY:
CREOLA, Ala. (WKRG) — The Creola Police Department and Mobile County Sheriff’s Office are working together on a road closure due to a hazardous material leak at a local business, News 5 has learned.
Highway 43 at Radcliff Road is closed north and southbound, according to police. Officials are asking people in that area to shelter in place.
INCIDENT LOCATION:
18 people shot, 3 dead in Stockton, Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office confirms
A representative with a local mechanical contractor in Axis tells us this is caused by a chemical leak at a business.
This is a developing story. News 5 will update this article as more information becomes available.
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