Portion of Allegheny River remains closed after train derailment
OAKMONT, Pa (KDKA) — A portion of the Allegheny River remains closed around the area of a train derailment, and it's impacting some boaters this holiday weekend.
"I heard all the rail cars pile into one another, so yeah, it was really scary," said Denny McCracken, who works at the Oakmont Yacht Club and has a houseboat docked there.
People staying in their houseboats at the Oakmont Yacht Club Marina were startled by the sound of a train derailing across the river in Harmar Township on Thursday.
"All of a sudden, just heard a really loud noise and the train stopped on a dime. We knew something was wrong, but we didn't know what," said Mike Flinn, who owns a houseboat at the Oakmont Yacht Club.
Emergency crews said they worked to contain petroleum distillates that they thought might have ended up in Guys Run from entering the Allegheny River.
On Thursday, the Coast Guard originally closed the Allegheny River from Harmar to the Point in downtown Pittsburgh.
"A lot of people had big plans to go downtown or down to Beaver River for the weekend. They were initially terribly disappointed because they would have been stuck here," McCracken said.
But the Coast Guard greatly reduced that restriction to between Miles 12 and 14 on the river, which is from the Oakmont Yacht Club to the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge.
That means no boating, fishing or kayaking in that two-mile stretch, which is a popular spot on the river.
"There are two islands up here, Twelve Mile Island and Fourteen Mile Island, and a lot of people go up behind those islands on the backside and they go out there and anchor out and spend the weekend up there," Flinn said.
The two boaters said while their holiday weekend plans will have to change a little bit, that's secondary to the bigger picture.
"I hope the folks that were injured are OK and that they get the spill contained and cleaned up and there's no further damage to wildlife here," McCracken said.
Boaters who need to go through the safety zone must contact the Coast Guard for permission, which will be granted on a case-by-case basis. Boaters are also encouraged to listen to VHF Channel 16 to stay updated.