I-575 closed after vapor cloud released from chicken plant

CANTON - A two-mile stretch of Interstate 575 in Cherokee County was closed Friday because of a 100-foot vapor cloud created when two chemicals were accidentally mixed at a chicken processing plant. <br> <br> No injuries were reported among the 300 workers evacuated from the ConAgra plant around 4:30 a.m., said Robbie Kennedy, spokesman for the Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency. <br> <br> Between 500 and 700 people living near the plant also were evacuated as a precaution. <br> <br> The white vapor cloud was created when choline chloride was inadvertently pumped into a 6,500-gallon tank that holds sodium chlorite, which is used to disinfect the chickens, Kennedy said. <br> <br> ``We don&#39;t know why or how the choline chloride got into the tank; that substance is not supposed to be on the plant grounds,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> The two chemicals are not supposed to be dangerous, but officials did not know what effect the vapor cloud would have on people, and the evacuations were ordered and I-575 closed as a precaution. <br> <br> Firefighters and a hazardous materials crew significantly reduced the size of the vapor cloud by 8 a.m., Kennedy said. The interstate was reopened at 8:40 a.m.

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