EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) Jeff Drummond spends days and nights alone in a tiny room with fake wood paneling, two small beds and a microwave atop a mini refrigerator that serves as a nightstand his pickup truck parked just outside the door at the roadside motel where hes taken refuge since early February.

Shelby Walker bounces from hotel to hotel with her five children and four grandchildren while crews tear up railroad tracks and scoop out contaminated soil near their four-bedroom home.

Almost three months after a fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment blackened the skies, sent residents fleeing and thrust East Palestine into a national debate over rail safety, residents say they are still living in limbo. Theyre unsure how or whether to move on from the accident and worry what will happen to them and the village where they have deep family roots, friendships and affordable homes.

I have no idea how long we can continue to do this, says Walker, while washing clothes at a laundromat.

Walker, 48, also works at a small hotel where many workers are staying, so is constantly reminded of the accident. She remembers the scorched rail tanker at her property line and a backyard flooded with water from the burn site. Sometimes I just break down, she says.

About half of East Palestines nearly 5,000 residents evacuated when, days after the Feb. 3 derailment, officials decided to burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars to prevent a catastrophic explosion.

Most have returned, though many complain about illnesses and worry about soil, water and air quality. Some are staying away until theyre sure its safe. Others, like Drummond, are not allowed back in their homes because of the ongoing cleanup.

The retired truck driver and Gulf War veteran misses mowing the lawn, puttering around his yard and chatting with regulars at the tavern next door.

I have nothing here, says Drummond, sitting on an orange plastic chair outside the Davis Motel in North Lima, Ohio. So its trying to find something to keep yourself busy, to keep from going crazy.