Schools and restaurants are closed. Grocery stores are sold out of bottled water, and state legislators, who had just started their session, closed the Capitol Building. On early Friday, the federal government joined the state declaring a disaster, and the West Virginia National Guard plans to distribute bottled drinking water to the nine affected counties.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a statement: Do not drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes with tap water.
According to a report from Fisher Scientific, the chemical is harmful if swallowed, or possibly if inhaled, and causes eye and skin irritation.
“Freedom Industries will be responsible for cleanup at the site,” said Tom Aluise, the spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection .
Many citizens are describing the smell as being similar to licorice. According to the Charleston Gazette, the smell was particularly strong at the Charleston Marriott hotel a few blocks from the Elk River, which flows into the Kanawha River in downtown Charleston.
Each guest was given two 16.9-ounce bottles of spring water upon returning to the hotel.
About 50 miles away from the contamination, in the unaffected city of Huntington, a hotel offered free showers for those affected.
Federal Emergency Management Agency is planning to deliver over a million liters of water from Maryland, but distribution is not expected to arrive until Friday night.
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