$125M settlement approved for Garden Grove chemical tank incident<\/p>\n
The settlement includes money for residents who were forced to evacuate the area earlier this spring. Elly Yu reports.<\/p>\n
An Orange County judge has approved a $125 million settlement<\/a> with the company that owns a chemical tank in Garden Grove that failed earlier this year, forcing about 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate<\/a> for days as the tank threatened to explode.<\/p>\n The agreement between the Orange County District Attorney and GKN Aerospace sets aside up to $100 million for a claim program for residents and businesses who were forced to evacuate.<\/p>\n What\u2019s covered in the claim program?<\/p>\n Those affected can be reimbursed for expenses like hotel stays and loss of wages. That includes:<\/p>\n Up to $300 a night for lodging, up to five nightsA $500 payment per household for the loss of using their homeUp to $500 per day in lost wages for hourly employees who missed work due to the evacuation, up to three working daysUp to $5,000 per day in lost profits for businesses that had to close during the evacuation<\/p>\n An additional $8.5 million will be used to reimburse government agencies that responded to the emergency.<\/p>\n The company has agreed to a safety plan, which includes new equipment and upgrades to existing equipment, and monitoring and oversight for at least the next seven years.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n GKN says it will hold a community event on Oct. 27 so residents can learn about the claim program, though details about the event haven\u2019t yet been released.<\/p>\n The company says now that the agreement has been court-approved, the claim program will open \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d To prepare, GKN said residents should keep receipts related to their expenses during their evacuation.<\/p>\n