Huffing in the Jade Mines...

[msfledermaus]

Huffing? Yes, huffing. Let me explain...

...Yesterday there was a semi-tanker full of gasoline that jacknifed Downtown, spilling thousands of gallons of gas into the sewers. Everybody in town was gassed out by the stench of the fuel, and the sewers brought it pretty far away from the accident--right over to the Jade Mines, about a mile and a half away. We had to lock of parts of the Mines and keep the public out because the Fire Department was worried about the fumes. The smokers were shooed away from the sewer grates so they wouldn't inadvertently set off the gas and blow us all up. (I saw many a guard slapping on emergency nicotine patches on breaks.) Between the Fire Department and workers from the city, we got everything cleared out and were safe to reopen the closed off areas after a couple of hours. (The Jade Mines even made the local news, with my boss and the new director standing in front of the blocked-off areas.)
During the whole thing, I kept thinking, "Jeez, if it's this bad over here, what's it like in front of Rhymes with Stalker? I mean, that tanker skidded out practically on it's front door..."

Everybody's fairly okay, even the driver of the tanker...but then we all got to deal with the second part of the problem: the smell. It was everywhere, inside and out. You couldn't get away from the stench by going outside; outside was actually worse. Most of us at work went home with headaches from huffing all that gasoline for hours and hours, including me. I still feel fairly off, even though most of the smell's gone now...

Yeah, most. The city's been trying to keep it all out of the river. I don't know how successful it's been, but under the bridges down by the Maushaus it still smells pretty strongly like gas. I know the Mississippi's been one great big dumping ground for just about everything imaginable, but I fret about the gasoline in the river...

But I'm okay, everybody's okay. Just kind of headachey. How are you?

Comments

I am...

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

VERY glad you are okay.

[buscemi.livejournal.com]

Ack! I'm glad no one was hurt. *hug*

[pianolessdevil.livejournal.com]

Nasty gases...I'm glad you're okay.

Something like that happened at the library I used to work at. Everyone in the library was either loopy (me) or had migraines (everyone else). lol Hopefully, those fumes will dissipate. All you guys need is a good ol' blast o' wind!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It's snowing here. I had a rough ride home, and snow doesn't usually bother me.

[emschin.livejournal.com]

I'm asking what may be a dumb questions because I'm too lazy to go try to find a map. Minneapolis is north of LaCrosse Wisconsin, isn't it? I have a good LJ friend near LaCrosse, close to the river, and I wonder about him. When it does get into the river, as some of it must, I wonder how far down the effects are felt.

[msfledermaus.livejournal.com]

Not sure...it's south of Minneapolis,indeed, so it would definitely come downstream to them. I know we've had buoys placed near the drains to catch the gasoline, but I'm sure at least a little of it must have leaked out by now...:/
Not sure how much or anything...at least around the bridges it doesn't smell like unleaded anymore...

[mudflapgirl72.livejournal.com]

We had to evacuate the basement at WFHM because of the fumes. We sat in the lobby all afternoon waiting for them to test the air quality and all that.

[msfledermaus.livejournal.com]

I bet businesses all over town had to do that...yeesh. I'm glad you and your cow-irkers are okay.

[mudflapgirl72.livejournal.com]

Yeah it was just annoying. They determined that the fumes were not harmful.