Michigan school official, business speak on impact of Toledo chemical leak

The city of Toledo issued an emergency evacuation order after confirming the release of a toxic chemical late Tuesday night.

Officials issued a shelter-in-place order for a three-mile radius around the site of the chemical leak. That includes parts of Southeast Michigan.

CBS News Detroit spoke with school districts and businesses on the Michigan side of that zone to learn how the chemical leak in Toledo affected them on Wednesday.

Several school districts with students living within the shelter-in-place area canceled school and activities, including Bedford Public Schools and Mason Consolidated Schools, and posted updates on their websites and Facebook.

"Out of an abundance of caution and making sure we are maintaining our priority of our kids being healthy and safe, we needed to cancel for the day. We monitored that all day," said Mason Consolidated Schools Superintendent Kelli Tuller.

Tuller says canceling school on Thursday wasn't off the table.

"The EPA is closely monitoring that, and the situation isn't fully under control. I'm going to be alerting our parents this afternoon or early evening that we should be on call and prepare some contingency plans for child care and the change in our schedule tomorrow possibly," she said.

Some businesses kept their doors open along Telegraph Road just north of the state line. An employee told us he didn't notice any chemical fumes when he got to work.

"No, I haven't noticed anything, at least not here. I take Detroit Ave. on my way up into work. A little bit [of smell] on my commute in, but once I got here, really no issue," said the Fish Market employee, Cam Micheau.

CBS News Detroit asked Micheau whether the emergency affected the business.

"Maybe a little slower at some points, especially around that 11-12, slower than we typically see, but as for the morning, a lot of the morning was business as usual. Only difference was a lot of people wearing masks really," he said.