Firefighters look at a train wagon on fire at Lac Megantic, Quebec, July 6, 2013. Canadian police expect the death toll from a fatal fuel train blast in a small Quebec town to be more than the one person confirmed dead so far, a spokesman said on Saturday
IN PHOTO: Firefighters look at a train wagon on fire at Lac Megantic, Quebec, July 6, 2013. Canadian police expect the death toll from a fatal fuel train blast in a small Quebec town to be more than the one person confirmed dead so far, a spokesman said on Saturday. The driverless train and 72 tankers of crude oil jumped the tracks in the small town of Lac-Megantic early in the morning and exploded in a massive fireball. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger

Black smoke enveloped parts of West Virginia after a train carrying over 100 tankers of crude oil derailed amid a snowstorm on Monday. The accident created a fireball sent into the sky.

It also threatened water supply of residents, which led officials to order the evacuation of hundreds of families and close two water treatment plants on Tuesday, reports Chron.com. To find out if the oil seeped into the tributary of the Kanahawa River, the West Virginia National Guard took water samples, said Larry Messina, spokesman of the state’s Public Safety Division.

The derailed train, which was full of Bakken crude from North Dakota bound for Yorktown, Virginia, also hit a house. The accident led the office of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to issue a state of emergency.

Except for two, all of the 109 cars owned by CSX were tanker cars. There were no injuries save for one person undergoing treatment for potential inhalation issues.

David McClung, a resident who lives half a mile from the accident site, described the explosion as scary as if an atomic bomb went off. He said the fireball it created was at least 300 feet into the air.

The train derailed at 1:20 pm along a flat stretch of rail 30 miles southeast of Charleston. Kanawha County Manager Jennifer Sayre estimates 14 to 17 tankers caught fire or exploded. It is still unclear if the accident was due to the weather since the state was under winter storm warning and expected up to 7 inches of snowfall in some places.

According to CSX, all the trains in the accident were newer model tank cars, not older models prone to puncture. The cars were CPC 1232 models, reports Reuters.

It is the second major trail derailment accident in three days after a Canadian National Railway train from Alberta’s oil sands derailed in northern Ontario on Feb 14. Of the 100 cars, 29 were involved of which seven burned.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.co.au