Update: Local authorities and the Kentucky HazMat #1 Response Team have determined that the mysterious white substance that appeared Thursday on the Whitehaven property in Paducah was starch.
McCracken County Emergency Management Director Jerome Mansfield said the hazmat team determined on-site that the substance was five gallons of “laundry-like starch” that someone dumped. He said the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will clean up the mess.
The material was in the parking lot used by truck drivers.
Whitehaven is a welcome center located at Interstate 24 Exit 7. The building is a restored 1860s mansion.
Earlier: A HazMat team is investigating a white substance on the Whitehaven property in Paducah. The historic house serves as a welcome center off I-24 Exit 7.
McCracken County Emergency Management Director Jerome Mansfield said the HazMat team was notified about the substance around noon after a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet supervisor noticed a granular, white substance in the grass in the back corner of the property. He says the location was cause for alarm.
The hazmat response team, which operates out of the Paducah Fire Department, is investigating the substance. Mansfield says they will be able to determine what it is within a few hours.
This story has been updated.
