Apocalypse Philadelphia: The Xylene Spill

Oh, yes, boys and girls, we have a theme today, and it makes no sense. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to milk it all morning.

Have you been outside today? Have you heard any of the news? Well, today everything in Philadelphia is leading up to Apocalypse Philadelphia, and this city’s going under.

Example No. 1: The xylene spill. Yesterday at 5:30 a.m., a tanker truck went over the center barrier and overturned on I-95 in South Philly. It spilled xylene, a highly flammable solvent used in the printing, rubber and leather industries. And although only a small bit spilled out, one spark could have lit the entire tanker ablaze.

And the road wasn’t completely cleared until 8:15 p.m. (The first pump they brought in to clean up the spill failed.) Nobody was hurt. But who knows what’s going to happen now? The xylene could have been released into the air, and we could be breathing it in! Especially with these high winds… oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tanker spill snarls I-95 traffic [Inky]
xylene [Answers.com]
Photo via CBS 3