Mindblowing! – The East Palestine Toxic Cloud

Officials warned the controlled burn would send phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air but man, that’s high up. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I.

Scott Deutsch of Norfolk Southern Railway earlier said that doing this during the daytime would allow the fumes to disperse more quickly and prevent the rail cars from exploding and sending shrapnel and other debris from flying through the neighborhood.

“We can’t control where that goes,” he said.

The process involves using a small charge to blow a hole in the cars, allowing the material to go into a trench and burning it off before it is released in the air.

It affected more than East Palestine