CHALMETTE, La. -- People in parts of Chalmette, Arabi and the Lower Ninth Ward woke up to find their neighborhoods were covered in a white powder.
Many were scared to touch it and some even canceled family plans because of their concern.
People in the Chalmette Vista subdivision quickly realized this Labor Day would be spent at work, cleaning up their property.
"When I walked back in my house, it was like I had baby powder on my feet and it left tracks all in my house, and I started coughing and I walked outside and I noticed it was on everything," said Obbie Carlisle.
"It's all in my air conditioning. My eyes, my eyes started watering last night and I just took Benadryl and all, but it's all over. I just hosed off the car and it's still on it," said Myron Kennedy.
"This is everywhere. this is on my grandson's play equipment," said Lori Gonzales.
A fine white powder blanketed the area. The fire chief's neighborhood was hit as well.
"It's everywhere. As the cars were going down the street, it looked like they were on a dirt road with the dust clouds going behind them. I went and shook the tree branch and it was just like a dust cloud came off of it," said Thomas Stone, the St. Bernard fire chief.
Chalmette Refinery says around 2 a.m., there was a power outage. There was no explosion, only a flare, and despite safety measures that were in place, there was a release of 2,000 pounds of spent catalyst. The incident caused several production units to go down.
"Fortunately there were no injuries, and we're operating right now and meeting our customer needs," said Will Hinson, the Public Affairs manager of Chalmette Refining, LLC.
The fire chief gave us the material safety data sheet and it clearly states that catalyst can be an irritant to the eyes and skin. It can be an irritant if inhaled or ingested. It also states to wear rubber gloves when handling it and to decontaminate your clothes and shoes before you reuse them or even dispose of them all together.
But the company tells us that its employees handle catalyst without even using any protective measures.
"The catalyst is made out of clays that you would find in the ground. As I say, it is nonhazardous and it is a powder that is used in the refining process. And you can safely wash it off of whatever it fell on," added Hinson.
While this material is not regulated as dangerous, people say they have washed their cars a few times and it is not all coming off. They say when the wind blows, it stirs up dust clouds that cause the taste of chalk in their throats.
Now the company says it will take care of the clean up.
"Whatever it takes to help our people, our neighbors out with whatever they've experienced," said Hinson.
Chalmette Refinery says it has hired a company to come clean people's property. For more information, you can call toll-free 1-877-657-2833.
