At least a hundred injured, some fatally. People are being evacuated from the area due to toxic fumes and fear another tank that is on fire will explode.
Any members in the area please check in.
Prayers going up for all first responders and victims.
Is this in anyway related to arson? As in terrorism? There is an awful lot of odd things going on right now. Letters being sent with ricin to the President and Congressmen. Sigh.
Authorities don't believe there is criminal activity involved though I'm sure that will be thoroughly investigated due to the proximity to Waco and the time of year.
I have family there...all are safe. 2 are firemen, 1 of them for West, Tx. My cousin said one of her co-workers was injured as they were evacuating when the plant exploded and it blew the windows in the truck they were driving. Scary.....
My childhood best friend moved to West with her mother when we were about 5. She met her husband in the junior high there (which is now destroyed)... They moved about 30 miles away and so are fine, her mother in law had some damage to her house but is personally fine.
A HS friend lives about 50 miles away and yesterday posted about "the world's longest rumble of thunder"... And then found out it was the explosion.
Last I read, it was a fire that sparked the explosion. Fertilizer plants are at HUGE risk for this sort of accident, so I'm thinking it's just that we're deep into what the late author Robert Heinlein described as "The Crazy Years."