(NewsNation) — Many of the residents that live near the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment have yet to return home after experiencing health symptoms they suspect are related to the toxic chemicals released in the incident that the Norfolk Southern train was carrying.
Paul Hartman lives just 500 feet from the Feb. 3 derailment and tells NewsNation he experienced symptoms after returning home from work.
“I have numb tongue, confusion, headaches, dizziness,” Hartman said. “I’ve talked to some of my neighbors the same way like I actually grabbed the rest of my clothes that they didn’t take. And my hands actually like were beet red. It was, it was horrible.”
Hartman said one of his neighbors stayed behind and is still there.
“My one neighbor, he’s actually still there,” Hartman said. “And he said his time tony was numb all the time. His eyes are burning. Like, it’s crazy. It’s just crazy. My other neighbor, they refused to go back. They won’t put their kids in that situation.”
For the past 3 weeks, Hartman and his family have been living in hotels around town and told NewsNation Norfolk Southern is no longer reimbursing him for his hotel stays.
“It’s extremely difficult,” he said. “Like, I mean, I haven’t been working. So where’s the money coming from? It’s like I’m using the rest of the, you know, that inconvenience pay to pay for this until I leave?”
To make matters worse, Hartman’s home was looted after he evacuated the area and says he doesn’t trust local or federal officials.
“The government just doesn’t … they forgot about the citizens like they said,” Hartman said. “They were like I called FEMA to ask for help and they said that they’re helping the city but not the people the residents.”
Hartman said he’ll be heading out of state and doesn’t know when he will return home at the moment.
East Palestine resident Russel Waite and his wife also are living in a hotel at the moment, their home was just half a mile away from the evacuation zone and both say they are experiencing symptoms.
“My eyes feel like they’re gonna fall out of my head,” Waite said. “They’re bulging out of my head. I have constant snot running nose every time I blow my nose. I blow my nose about every eight to 10 minutes and I blow blood out of my nose. And no, I am not in the so-called one mile right.”
Russel told NewsNation that his wife Julie was taken to the hospital after she said she was feeling like her skin was burning but unfortunately the doctors didn’t know what to test for.