LECLAIRE — A train derailment Friday morning sent at least a dozen rail cars and tankers off their tracks in downtown LeClaire, shutting down a nearby highway and sending a hazardous materials team scrambling to the site.
The derailment happened just a couple of hundred feet from the banks of the Mississippi River, along U.S. Highway 67, which runs parallel to the tracks. LeClaire police closed the highway in both directions shortly after the derailment and called on the public to avoid the area.
The derailment involved a Canadian Pacific Railroad train, Scott County Emergency Management planner Brian Payne said. He said a hazmat team had been sent to the scene, but that no injuries or damage outside the train had been reported. Payne said the derailment had caused some type of leak at the scene, but he did not know what the leaking material was.
“I’m not even sure there’s an immediate threat to the public,” he said.
Payne said he had no details about what might have caused the derailment or how many cars had left the tracks.
Messages left Friday for Canadian Pacific Railroad seeking comment were not immediately returned.
