Cleanup underway for train that derailed Thursday in southwest Wisconsin along Mississippi River

Cleanup efforts are underway after a train derailed Thursday afternoon in southwest Wisconsin, sending two cars tumbling into the Mississippi River.

Officials said the derailment occurred about 12:15 p.m. near the villages of Ferryville and De Soto in Crawford County, about 30 miles south of La Crosse. Four members of the train crew were transported to the hospital for medical evaluation.

On Friday morning, Gov. Tony Evers tweeted that he was on his way to De Soto to survey the site and speak with emergency personnel.

A spokesperson for the railroad company, BNSF Railway, said the two cars that floated downriver contained non-hazardous "freight of all kinds." Some of the cars that crashed and remained on land contained paint and lithium-ion batteries.

The two train cars that floated away passed under the Wisconsin 82/Lansing Causeway before getting hung up on shore, according to a Wisconsin Department of Transportation release. The agency is going to inspect the bridge for any damage done by the cars.

The area where the crash occurred is surrounded by the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, a haven for many fish and bird species.

On Friday, refuge manager Sabrina Chandler told the Journal Sentinel that the two cars that had landed in the river had been located and would be recovered later. She also said that what she had initially heard was paint spilled at the impact site was actually coffee creamer.

BNSF has not yet responded to an inquiry about the retrieval of the two cars and the additional details about what was in the cars on land.

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In a Thursday evening press conference, Jim Hackett, director of emergency management for Crawford County, said there was no hazard to the public while the railroad company and other agencies handled cleanup. Crews deployed boom — a barrier designed to contain a spill and protect the environment — and a Vernon County hazmat team was on scene helping with the process.

Local officials shut down a section of Wisconsin Highway 35 until the cleanup is completed, and there is not yet an estimate for how long the road will be closed.

The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

The area has seen significant flooding in the last week as snowmelt flows through the Mississippi River, shutting down other area roads including the bridge that connects nearby Lansing, Iowa with Wisconsin. The river is expected to crest there later this week at approximately 19.7 feet, hitting among the top five levels in the historic record.

Madeline Heim is a Report for America corps reporter who writes about environmental issues in the Mississippi River watershed and across Wisconsin. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@gannett.com.