# Breaking: toxic gas leak in Orange County imminent: 40,000 ordered to evacuate: Breaking news, 2026-05-23

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-toxic-gas-leak-in-orange-county-imminent-40-000-ordered-to-evacuate-breaking-news-2026-05-23/1030327>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Tags:** breaking-news\
**Created:** [May 23, 2026, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-toxic-gas-leak-in-orange-county-imminent-40-000-ordered-to-evacuate-breaking-news-2026-05-23/1030327 "2026-05-23T04:52:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-toxic-gas-leak-in-orange-county-imminent-40-000-ordered-to-evacuate-breaking-news-2026-05-23/1030327/61 "2026-05-27T15:54:49Z")

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So you’re saying it’s a blast to watch?

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-toxic-gas-leak-in-orange-county-imminent-40-000-ordered-to-evacuate-breaking-news-2026-05-23/1030327/62 "2026-05-27T17:28:18Z")

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Just try to avoid it being a blast to participate in. Which is evidently kinda harder some days than others.

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-toxic-gas-leak-in-orange-county-imminent-40-000-ordered-to-evacuate-breaking-news-2026-05-23/1030327/63 "2026-05-27T22:07:00Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Freight too

Appears to be an adjacent rail siding.

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-toxic-gas-leak-in-orange-county-imminent-40-000-ordered-to-evacuate-breaking-news-2026-05-23/1030327/64 "2026-08-28T13:00:42Z")

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> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> In other chemical tank news…
> 
> [Corrosive chemicals hamper recovery efforts at Longview industrial site; 9 still unaccounted for after tank rupture - OPB](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/26/longview-chemical-explosion-nippon/)

> An inspection contractor found a chemical tank at a Washington state paper mill “not fit for continued service” 10 months before it failed in May, [killing 11](https://apnews.com/article/longview-washington-mills-chemical-tank-failure-e1d288726d8f3e2a6c4e505d168e3c05) in one of the deadliest U.S. workplace disasters in recent decades, according to a federal report released Friday…
> 
> The board found that the contractor provided Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company with recommendations for internal inspections and shell repairs, but the company did none between a July 2025 inspection and the May 2026 failure.

> **[Washington chemical tank was called unfit for service before deadly failure,...](https://apnews.com/article/nippon-dynawave-longview-chemical-tank-rupture-washington-3da9aff673419848f5cc29e076baabeb)**
>
> An inspection contractor found a chemical tank at a Washington state paper mill was unfit for service 10 months before its fatal failure in May. The U.S.

Eleven people died as a result of this tank failure.

This interim report is at:

> **[U.S. Chemical Safety Board Issues Update on Investigation into the Fatal...](https://www.csb.gov/us-chemical-safety-board-issues-update-on-investigation-into-the-fatal-catastrophic-tank-failure-at-the-nippon-dynawave-packaging-facility-in-longview-washington/)**

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