Thousands evacuated in Southern California due to failing chemical tank

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. A person walks by a blocked-off road as a chemical incident involving a failing tank of flammable liquid called methyl methacrylate, used in the aerospace industry, has forced an evacuation in the surrounding area in Garden Grove, California, on May, 22, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters Officials ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in the Los Angeles suburb of Garden Grove on Friday (May 22, 2026) due to a failing chemical tank that was likely to either leak or explode, possibly releasing toxic vapour into the air, first responders said. Firefighters doused the tanks with water using a mechanical device that kept humans at a safe distance, stabilising the temperature and “buying us time,” said Craig Covey, division chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, in a video posted on social media. In a previous video, Mr. Covey had said two options were remaining: either that the tank would fail and spill up to 7,000 gallons (26,500 liters) of toxic chemicals, or that it would explode and endanger neighbouring tanks. “I know I keep talking about we were handed this situation where there are only two things that can happen: it could crack and leak, or it could blow up. That’s not acceptable to us,” Mr. Covey said in the later video. “I have an entire team actively working locally, regionally, across the state, and across the country, to try to figure out how to fix this.” Mr. Covey said his goal was to “get all these brilliant minds together to put a plan together, so that we don’t let this blow up.” The malfunctioning tank contained methyl methacrylate, a flammable, volatile chemical used in plastics and manufacturing at an aerospace plant, the Orange County Register reported. The situation, which began on Thursday (May 21), unfolded in Garden Grove, a city of about 172,000 people, some 30 miles (50 km) south of Los Angeles. Officials discovered the increased risk of an explosion on Friday (May 22) after getting an update from the manufacturing company, said TJ McGovern, interim chief of the Orange County Fire Authority. Officials established three evacuation shelters, one in Garden Grove and one each in the neighbouring cities of Anaheim and Cypress. The evacuation zone was home to about 40,000 people, Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra said, as reported by the Orange County Register, and about 15% of them were refusing to leave, he said. Health officials were concerned that vapour could escape, with the potential of causing severe respiratory issues in the event of prolonged exposure. But so far, air quality monitors had not detected any vapour, said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong of the Orange County Health Care Agency. “You are safe as long as you are out of the zone that was determined to be an evacuation zone,” Chinsio-Kwong said. Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Thousands evacuated in Southern California due to failing chemical tank

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Thousands evacuated in Southern California due to failing chemical tank

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