Rockcastle County is a little south and a little east of Kentucky’s center. About 16,000 people live there, 98.8% of them white (literally; that’s the real stat). The last time the county voted for a Democratic presidential candidate was in 1880 (Winfield Hancock). In 2020, Trump won an 84.5% landslide against Biden (14.6%). A couple of weeks ago, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear did a little better (29.1%), but the county still voted overwhelmingly for Daniel Cameron, the Republican candidate (70.9%). The Per Capita income is $12,337, considerably less than the Kentucky average ($29,123). In fact, the states with the lowest per capita incomes are all doing a lot better than Rockcastle County:
Mississippi- $25,444
West Virginia- $27,346
Arkansas- $27,724
Slightly over 23% of the population live under the poverty line. There are no cities in Rockcastle. The biggest town is the county seat, Mount Vernon and about 2,500 people live there. More typical are hamlets like Livingston, where around 200 people live and where, on Wednesday afternoon a 16 car CSX train derailed and spilled enough molten sulfur to force the town to be evacuated. The sulfur caught fire, releasing sulfur dioxide, which can cause respiratory problems.
Beshear declared a county-wide state of emergency. On Thursday residents were told that it was safe-ish to return home. A much-deregulated CSX announced that “The cause of the incident is under investigation. CSX is still supplying food, lodging and other necessities to affected community members.”
Earlier Thursday, Kentucky Emergency Management spokesperson Jordan Yuodis told CNN 50% of the fire had been contained but residents who evacuated were not being allowed to return home.
“Due to the train derailment, many families in Livingston … will be displaced for Thanksgiving. Please think about them and pray for a resolution that gets them back in their homes,” Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear said on Facebook Thursday morning.
The Environmental Protection Agency was monitoring sulfur dioxide levels in the county, EPA on-site coordinator Matthew Huyser told reporters Thursday. The derailment caused increased levels in the immediate area, but those levels have decreased as the fire is being extinguished, he said.
The EPA’s website said short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult, especially for children and people with asthma.
Huyser did not provide sulfur dioxide levels measured overnight but said the goal is to reach levels of zero. “It appears that the firefighting efforts have been successful in reducing and quite eliminating the hazards that are being measured,” he said.
Cleanup was still ongoing yesterday.
