FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2019
Harris County Offers ITC Incident Update
(Houston, TX) – Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and the Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (HCOHSEM) continue to monitor response efforts at the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) in the City of Deer Park including the removal of the remaining chemicals. Responders are currently removing product from tanks 80-2 and 80-3. Once those tanks are secured, product removal from tanks 80-5 and 80-6 will begin.
Cleanup and water monitoring near the incident area is ongoing and the Texas Department of State Health Services recommends that no one eat any species of fish or crab from the ship channel or San Jacinto River north of the Fred Hartman Bridge. The Houston Ship Channel has reopened for one-way traffic for daytime operations but the Lynchburg Ferry remains closed to the public.
Harris County Commissioner Precinct 2 parks near the ITC site with waterfront areas will remain closed to the public until water sample results have come back with findings deemed safe.
Harris County Public Health (HCPH), Harris County Pollution Control (HCPC), Harris County and City of Houston Hazardous Materials teams, EPA, TCEQ and Turnstone Environmental Health & Safety continue air quality monitoring.
The Air Quality Monitoring webpage on the Ready Harris site has had more than 182,000 Page views of the data compiled from the 2,400+ air sampling points that partner agencies have provided.
Based on current health-related data from multiple sources, the health risk for the general public is low. However, Harris County Public Health advises any individuals with health concerns they believe to be related to the ITC fire, to contact their healthcare provider. If they do not have a healthcare provider, they can find a local health center near them at https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ or they can call the Harris Health System’s ‘Ask My Nurse’ helpline – open from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily– to help answer basic health questions. That number is 713-634-1110.
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MESSAGE ID# 333980951904909