By Megan Broome
The Clayton Tribune
Dozens of residents were evacuated after a commercial vehicle carrying “blasting agents” overturned on its side early Tuesday morning at Kellys Creek Road in Rabun Gap.
The crash caused the road to be shut down for several hours and a quarter-mile area from the accident scene to be evacuated “in the abundance of caution” because of “hazards associated with content the truck was carrying,” according to Brian Panell, Rabun County Emergency Management Agency director.
Evacuations were made in the areas around Holden Cove and Ponderosa Road as multiple agencies responded to the incident.
Panell said “no immediate threat was detected.”
Georgia State Patrol (GSP) confirmed the single unit tanker truck was transporting the chemical compound ammonium nitrate. The contents were contained by on-scene crews to the grassy area where the truck overturned.
Ammonium nitrate can be used in the creation of fertilizer but also can be a component in explosives.
“On the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, at 6:37 a.m. Rabun County 911 received a notification of a single commercial vehicle accident reported in the vicinity of 1220 Kellys Creek Road in Rabun Gap,” according to a statement from Panell. “Upon arrival to the scene, crews reported a commercial vehicle containing blasting material and agents had overturned on its side.”
Traffic signals on Georgia 15 at the intersections of Kellys Creek Road and Highway 246 were out as a result of the crash.
A 2015 Mack Granite was traveling north on Kellys Creek Road when the driver, Patrick Oliver Oneal, 36, of Winder, Ga., lost control of the vehicle, according to GSP.
The vehicle traveled off of the roadway, struck a power line and overturned down an embankment, GSP reported.
No injuries were sustained in the accident, according to Panell.
The Mack was headed to a facility on Kellys Creek Road.
Kellys Creek Road was closed for an extended time on Aug. 9 from the area of Yorkhouse Road and the entrance of Vulcan Materials Company.
Emergency personnel were stationed at the intersection of Kellys Creek Road and Yorkhouse Road to reroute traffic.
EMA personnel utilized an Unmanned Aircraft System drone to take pictures and investigate the crash area.
Kellys Creek Road reopened and traffic flow resumed at approximately 12:49 p,m. Tuesday, according to Panell.