Three months ago, a train carrying American crude oil derailed and exploded in the heart of Lac-Mgantic, Quebec, killing 47 people.
Local leaders now say recovering from the disaster will take much more time, effort, and money than they expected.
Industry experts say the accident could change the way oil and other dangerous chemicals are transported on trains in North America.
An Empty Village
"It's been left for weeks, everybody quit so fast," says Robert Mercier, head of Lac-Mgantic's environment department, as he walks down his town's main street.
He grew up here. In a normal year, he says, the street cafes and tourist shops would have been busy with visitors who come to see the colorful fall leaves. Now, it's a ghost town.
People fled in the early morning of July 6 as massive fireballs rolled into the sky. Mercier says he was sleeping in an apartment nearby when the first tank car erupted in flames.
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