On 19th anniversary of train crash, Graniteville honors those lost
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - In 2005, nine lives were lost and hundreds were injured after two Norfolk Southern trains collided near the Avondale Mills Plant in Graniteville. Over 250 people were treated for toxic chlorine exposure.
Nineteen years later, local residents honored the lives lost and pray that nothing like this ever happens again.
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“The sound of tons of metal scraping, hitting each other is one that I’ve never heard and one I will never hear again, I hope,” said Robert Wise, who lives in Graniteville.
He lived nearby when it happened and still lives there, only a few hundred yards away from the scene. He says he and his friends grew up around where it happened and have many memories of what it was like before and after.
“I was asleep I heard a big screaming roar, metal to metal and it was the train wrecking. The vibration actually knocked me out of bed. I got up to see what was going on. And by that time the orange gas was up in the air and my neighbors told me get out of town,” said Wise.
The lives that were lost and impacted are honored with coins and flowers Saturday to show respect at the memorial dedicated to them. For many people who live in Graniteville, it’s something always on their minds.
“Look at it every day when I come by and think about it. And many times I come over here and sit,” he said.
He says the tragedy has brought the town closer together and that they have come a long way since then.
“We are resilient, we come back. So we’ve we come back with our Megiddo Dream Station, which both provide jobs, help people train people for jobs. And then the after that the YMCA came to town. Sam’s has come to town and people are coming to town,” said Wiser.
Big plans for the future but they never forgot the past.
“We’re just very thankful to made it, to have survived. And unfortunately, some of our friends didn’t as you can see. And we we cry and we pray with all these people too, because we are so sorry,” he said.
Since then he says the town has come together, growing and becoming better than it was before. Hoping to bring more people in and teach them about their history and why Graniteville is so important to them.
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