A Union Pacific train derailed Wednesday evening in the Texas town of Powell, about 60 miles south of the DFW metroplex.
The Navarro County Office of Emergency Management reported that a train derailment occurred near Highway 31 and SE County Road 0080 around 6 p.m.
A spokesperson from Union Pacific told CBS News that about 26 rail cars had been knocked off the tracks. No injuries or hazardous material spills occurred during the incident, and there is currently no environmental threat due to the derailment.
The spokesperson said that the weather conditions were a primary factor in the incident, which occurred amidst thunderstorms and high winds affecting the area.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Fort Worth told The Dallas Express that multiple “very strong” storms had passed through Navarro County during the afternoon and early evening hours of Wednesday, June 21. While the storms did not produce any tornadic activity, they did produce powerful winds.
Monique Sellers with the NWS in Fort Worth told The Dallas Express that these storms had resulted in multiple instances of damage across the area, which are still under investigation.
“We’re still in the process of investigating all of the damage reports that we’ve gotten in that area, but as of right now, just based on radar, it looks like it was straight-line wind damage, given the path of damage was pretty wide,” said Sellers.
She added that wind speeds sustained in these storms were in excess of 80 miles per hour.
The investigation into the train derailment is ongoing.
Freight train derailments have become an all-too-common occurrence in Texas. In February, an 18-wheeler collided with a train in East Montgomery County, killing one person and derailing several freight cars.
A freight train bearing gravel derailed in March in the Texas town of Manor, just outside Austin, resulting in a minor spill, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
In April, a Union Pacific freight train collided with an unoccupied train that was idling on the tracks in Chico, injuring two rail workers.
According to statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration, Texas leads the nation in train derailments. Since 2000, there have been 5,022 incidents reported in the Lone Star State, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
