A train derailment in southern Alberta has forced an evacuation and shut down part of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Between 12 and 15 cars left the tracks near Irvine, Alta., on Friday afternoon, police said, and some may contain flammable cargo.
The derailment involves “chemical exposure” according to Alberta Emergency Alert, which told residents within a 6.4 kilometre radius to evacuate the area immediately.
The train derailed on the west side of Irvine — a community of about 300 people, some 35 kilometres southeast from Medicine Hat — along the north side of Highway 1 in Cypress County, officials said in an alert sent at 4:52 p.m. MT.
RCMP are assisting with the evacuation.
Canadian Pacific Railway says it happened at about 3:20 p.m. MT and they have “dispatched teams to the site.”
How to evacuate
Residents are being told to go to the Cypress County Administration Office in the hamlet of Dunmore, at 816 Second Ave.
Range Road 30 should be used for people who live north of the Trans-Canada. Turn west on Township Road 124 and head to Highway 41 to access Highway 1 into Dunmore.
People who live south of Highway 1 are asked to use “Township Road 114A to gain access to Highway 41, or are asked to use the Bull Trail and turn west onto Township Road 110A to access to Range Road 32 to head south to Township Road 110 and then turn and head west along Township Road 110 to the Eagle Butte Road to provide access to the hamlet of Dunmore,” the agency said.
