INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — All the rain isn't making it any easier for crews cleaning up last week's fiery wreck on the city's east side.
Reopening the interstate overpass didn't take long, but all the jet fuel the truck was carrying didn't burn up. It soaked into the ground and poured into a waterway that runs through much of the city.
Miles of Pleasant Run are polluted with the jet fuel. There is a rainbow sheen on the surface of the muddy water.
Crews installed numerous floating booms intended to capture the fuel so it can be pumped away by vacuum trucks.
They've been working to contain the spill for more than four days.
Pleasant Run flows past the interstate interchange where the tanker truck crashed and exploded Thursday. The driver told police the truck was carrying 7,500 gallons of jet fuel.
Fuel that didn't burn away or soak into the ground flowed into Pleasant Run.
The waterway meanders its way from the far east side of Indianapolis through commercial and residential neighborhoods before reaching the White river.
Just downstream from where the crash happened, you can see some jet fuel getting past the boom stretched across the water at Pleasant Run golf course.
County health officials said there is no imminent threat to drinking water, but people living along Pleasant Run and relying on wells for drinking water should have the water tested.
No one is saying how long the cleanup will take, but the absorbent booms could be soaking up jet fuel for weeks. A spokesperson for IDEM said the cost of the cleanup will go to the trucking company.