Posted on 04/17/2013 6:51:57 PM PDT by kristinn
A large explosion rocked the town of West, Texas, 19 miles north of Waco, on Wednesday evening.
A source tells News 8 that a large swath of the small town with a population of 2,800 has been leveled.
According to initial reports, the blast was at the West Fertilizer plant at 1471 Jerry Mashek Drive, about a half-mile east of Interstate 35.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
My heart is hurting bad right now....I’ve stopped there many times on the way back from driving from Austin/San Antonio to pick up Kolaches at the Czech Stop. If these reports are true, this is devastating to such a small community.
Over 15,000 now.
Me, too. Wife and I both teary eyed. This is horrible. Tomorrow’s pictures are going to be devastating. And, they’re expect a bad storm around 4 a.m.
People are trapped in houses and apartments but can’t be rescued because they’re calling it a “hot zone”.
Fox News reporting 60-70 dead
Four firefighters possibly
Homes flattened, middle school on fire
Evacuations in 30 mile radius
We have 30+ mph winds 80 miles north. Fire fighting in that wind is tough.
I’m thinking that if it was a fertilizer bomb that took out the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, how many times stronger was this blast?
Sarah, I’m watching locally and I can say that the EMS response is massive.
I see hundreds of fire trucks, ambulances, buses, police cars on the scene. In fact, West City Council has asked that surrounding areas quit sending responders as they have more than enough to handle the situation.
If they evacuate a 30 mile radius that includes north waco.
I can hardly believe what I’m hearing and seeing....this is so horrible. 5 firefighters and 1 police officer dead. They were fighting the fire before it exploded....
I know here in the Dallas area we are expected bad storms after midnight, so I imagine they will get it too.
Yep.
I’m not much of a nutter, but this is too much of a coincidence.
Crazy week.
Watching the WFAA live feed. Someone actually had a camera on the fire when it exploded. Oh, wow. To say it was massive doesn’t even begin to cover it.
@KHOU 70 people confirmed dead, incl 5 firefighters & 1 police officer. Hundreds of others injured in explosion
I dont know why these horrible things are always happening..I hope that anyone on this forum who lives in Waco or has any family there is safe
Ch 13 in Houston is reporting the town is being evacuated because of leaking amonia.
I have stopped at the Czech Stop Bakery many times. Best gingerbread men ever.
This explosion was felt 60 miles away.
Triage area had to be evacuated.
Expecting a storm tonight on top of all of the devastation.
I was just thinking about that catastrophe. Absolutely devastating.
Initial triage being moved to community center due to proximity of other possible explosive hazards.
I hope these folks are considering the extreme hazards of the resulting chemical cloud.
This thing is a Haz-Mat nightmare.
the pictures look amazing
I dont know how far you are from the scene but please stay safe..that stuff is very toxic they are telling everyone to get out so stay safe
You know there’s natural gas leaks all over the place.
Just heard scanner asking for more fire trucks.
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