Danielle Husband
An apartment complex in Midtown was partially evacuated while hazmat crews cleaned up a mercury spill yesterday.
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The FBI and local arson investigators were also on the scene attempting to make sense of why a man was keeping two pounds of mercury in his apartment.
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The Houston Police Department received a call about the spill at around 10:30 a.m. on Monday, when they responded to Mid Main Lofts, located at 3500 Main Street.
There, they discovered a man storing mercury in an old Crown Royal bottle.
“He didn’t give a clear reason for why he had mercury,” HFD spokesperson Sheldra Brigham said in an interview with ABC13. “He said he had two pounds in a jar for whatever reason. We aren’t clear on that.”
A woman who was visiting the man reportedly picked up the bottle and dropped it, spilling the mercury.
After initially trying to clean up the spill with an eyedropper, the man gave up and called authorities. Because he threw the eyedropper down a trash chute, the trash was also contaminated by the noxious element.
Residents arrived home on Monday afternoon to find the building surrounded by hazmat crews and fire trucks, barred from entering their own apartments.
As a result of the spill, the entire 5th floor and a few other potentially affected apartments were evacuated and shut off to the public until the hazmat crew could effectively clean up the element.
Mercury is one of the top 10 most toxic chemicals. Even a small amount can cause harm to the body.
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Two fire fighters were exposed to the mercury and required decontamination themselves.
The Houston Health Department will oversee the remaining cleaning of the mercury, but it will be up to the apartment management to complete the process moving forward.
