Even though it has less than 2% of the population of California and therefore merits two Senators, North Dakota is largely a vacant field with sporadic signs of human existence. That was lucky on Friday after 29 rail cars carrying hazardous material derailed and burst into flames; it continues to burn more than 12 hours later, ABC News reports.
The train derailed 140 miles from Fargo in farmland, spilling anhydrous ammonia, sulfur and methanol. A massive operation was launched to evacuate the twenty people who lived in the impacted area as plumes of smoke launched into the sky. (For comparison, the East Palestine, Ohio derailment, with similar dangerous chemicals, had 38 cars derailed.)