CONYERS, Ga. — Schools and businesses still feel the impact of the chemical plume spreading from a BioLab facility fire in Conyers, with the cleanup timeline still unknown.
Decatur schools announced they will move activities indoors as a precaution. Rockdale County schools plan to hold remote learning days next Monday through Wednesday due to concerns as students return from fall break. District officials say they have not been given a timeline for the cleanup.
The fire was put out Sunday, but a reaction triggered by sprinkler system water pouring onto pool shock chlorination product at the BioLab facility in Conyers has continued to produce the plume.
The Georgia Department of Public Health told 11Alive that a "few hundred" people have complained of symptoms associated with the plume -- such as eye irritation and coughing -- but that the very large majority of these cases have been mild, with "very few" people experiencing severe outcomes or being admitted to a hospital.
Meanwhile, the daily monitoring table published by the EPA for yesterday showed that chlorine levels at its Smyrna Road station (south of I-20 and BioLab site) were on average about double the "action level" of 0.50 ppm yesterday for both 6-7 a.m. and 7-8 a.m.
A Georgia Poison Center hotline has been set up at 404-856-6252 for anyone wishing to report symptoms such as nose, throat or eye irritation or difficulty breathing.
Here is some other critical information:
- What we learned on Conyers plume from Tuesday morning news conference | Pool shock product is gassing off into the air: What that means
- Georgia Tech chemistry professor breaks down chemicals in the air over Conyers BioLab plant
- Rockdale chemical plume | Possible symptoms from exposure
- Hotlines: For non-emergency situations, people are asked not to call 911. They are directed to the county EMA hotline at 770-278-8300 or the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office non-emergency line at 770-278-8200.
11Alive will provide additional updates throughout the day on the situation.
Latest chemical plume updates | Friday, Oct. 4
3:10 p.m. | Rockdale County has extended the shelter-in-place order through the weekend.
The county released the following statement:
Based on information received from the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), advises all Rockdale County residents to continue to shelter in place from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am through the weekend and will end at 7:00 am on Monday, October 7.
Officials also announced plans to reopen county services to the public on Monday.
10:50 a.m. | The Georgia Department of Public Health says a "few hundred people" have complained about symptoms associated with the BioLab plume, but that the majority have been "mild effects" with "very few" people having severe outcomes or being admitted into a hospital.
Full statement:
DPH is monitoring syndromic surveillance to review complaints from patients who have gone to emergency rooms and urgent care clinics complaining of symptoms associated with an exposure to the BioLab smoke. At this time, the number is a few hundred people. The system doesn’t look for diagnoses, but rather chief complaints, such as eye irritation, scratchy throat, and coughing. What DPH is seeing are mild effects, very few people have had severe outcomes or had to be admitted to the hospital.
10:45 a.m. | Rockdale County posted this FAQ yesterday, which offers some information on the chemicals being detected in the air and water quality:
9:20 a.m. | Rockdale County has shared a video showing what the cleanup scene looks like.
6:20 a.m. | The daily monitoring table published by the EPA for yesterday from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. says levels chlorine levels exceeded the "action level" in the morning at their Smyrna Road station. Smyrna Road is just south of I-20 and the BioLab site.
From the report (note, when reading these numbers, that the "action level" is considered 0.50 ppm across a 1 hour average):
"From 5:00am to 11:00am several rises and falls of Cl2 were measured with peaks of 3.68ppm, 1.87ppm, 2.09ppm, and 2.22ppm. The hourly average concentration from 6:00am to 7:00am was 0.98ppm and the hourly average concentration from 7:00am to 8:00am was 1.07ppm. Remaining hourly average concentrations did not exceed 0.43ppm."
6 a.m. | Here is the latest on our coverage.
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Thursday, Oct. 3
9:38 p.m. | City Schools of Decatur posted on Instagram that as a precaution, students will remain indoors during the school day on Friday. Also, windows will be closed for bus riders during pickup and dropoff.
6:48 p.m. | 11Alive's Molly Oak explains how frustration is growing for residents as the plume lingers in Rockdale County.
5:20 p.m. | The Georgia Department of Agriculture released the following statement on the chemical plume in Conyers:
We are monitoring the ongoing chemical event in Rockdale County and its impact on the surrounding area in close coordination with local officials, GEMA/HS, EPA, DPH, and other state and federal partners. Impacted Georgians can submit agriculture-related questions and any reports of animal mortality directly to us at chemicalevent@agr.georgia.gov. This is an evolving situation, and we will provide updated recommendations/guidance
as soon as we receive more information.