The Mississauga Miracle
N 43° 34.264 W 079° 38.411
17T E 609805 N 4825132
Quick Description: 218,000 people were evacuated due to the derailment that occurred here on November 10, 1979.
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 8/14/2008 7:24:25 AM
Waymark Code: WM4EVV
Views: 79
Long Description:On November 10, 1979 a Canadian Pacific Train lost one of it's
wheels and derailed here. The wheel was found in a back yard west
of here.
The train was carrying propane, caustic soda, styrene, toulene,
fiberglass insulation and chlorine gas in adjacent cars.
The resulting explosion and fireball reached 1500 metres high,
and was seen from as far as 100 km from the site. Rail cars were
found (landed) up to a kilometer away from the crash site.
The area was closed for over a week, and this included shutting
down the QEW highway through Mississauga (at the time, the 403,
407, 410 did not exist). Commuters that were not evacuated endured
massive traffic jams and Mississauga was a ghost town.
218,000 people were evacuated (including me!) and this was the
largest peace time evacuation in North America's history (this is
now the second largest after New Orleans/Katrina). The fact that
there were no deaths, or even serious injurys, has led to this
being called the "Mississauga Miracle"
In 2004, the City of Mississauga placed a plaque on the east
side of Mavis Road, just south of the accident site. The area now
is heavily developed and there are over 700,000 people that live in
the evacuation zone. As a result of this accident, regulations for
transporting dangerous goods, and the speeds trains could travel in
urban areas were updated. For example, trains cannot place Chlorine
Gas Cars next to Propane Cars anymore.
Wikipedia Entry:
(visit link)