Residents east of Atlanta were again warned Tuesday to take shelter where they are if shifting winds push the still-billowing chemical cloud from a chlorine factory fire over their neighborhood.
A shelter-in-place order had just ended Monday evening for Rockdale County, where the chemical fire sent a huge plume of orange and black smoke into the Georgia sky on Sunday. People complained about a strong chemical smell and haze for many miles around the BioLab plant in Conyers, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Atlanta.
“Due to the weather, the plume is banking down and moving throughout the county. If the cloud moves over your vicinity, please shelter in place until the cloud moves out,” Rockdale County officials told residents on social media early Tuesday.
The City of Atlanta said its firefighters continue to monitor the fallout, and urged anyone with “nose, throat or eye irritation, or difficulty breathing,” to call a Georgia Poison Center hotline.
“If you don’t have to be outside, if you don’t have to be on the roadways, stay home,” Rockdale County Board of Commissioners Chairman Oz Nesbitt said at a Tuesday morning news conference.