Mayor Trent Conaway told Fox News in an interview that he believes the water in the town is safe, as he has seen the reports that showed contaminants were not present in it. But “you can definitely smell” the chemicals, and he said people are developing rashes.“You can definitely smell it in downtown and around the shopping district of our town,” Conaway said, referring to the odors residents are reporting.

‘Chernobyl 2.0’? Ohio Train Derailment Spurs Wild Speculation. – New York Times

For East Palestine residents John and Lisa Hamner, life as they knew it came to a screeching, flaming halt at 8:55 pm on 3 February.“It’s totally wrecked our life,” he told the BBC, choking back tears in the parking lot of his business, where the stench of chemicals and sulphur from the derailment remains powerful.Mr Hamner’s eyes are red and swollen, which he credits to the lingering physical impact of the chemicals spilled in East Palestine.Standing on a mound of dirt within sight of the charred remains of several railway cars from the derailment, Mr Hamner likened the incident to Chernobyl, an April 1986 nuclear accident in then-Soviet Ukraine.He’s not alone. Over the course of two days in East Palestine, several residents told the BBC that they consider the derailment a seminal moment in the town’s history. At least for the foreseeable future, their lives will be measured by what happened before the 3 February disaster and what took place after.