the pictures look amazing
Listen live to this incident @ http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/2663
Oh, my. Prayers up.
Apparently, the apt complex is a skeleton.
Wow... u would think there would be laws against residential homes being located that close to fertilizer storage.
The full extent of the devastation will have to wait until the light of day Thursday. But residents of the small Texas town of West already know what to expect.
"There are a lot of people that got hurt," West Mayor Tommy Muska forewarned Wednesday night. "There are a lot of people that will not be here tomorrow."
A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant on the edge of the town killed at least two people, wounded more than 150, leveled dozens of homes and prompted authorities to evacuate half their community of 2,800.
The Wednesday night blast shook houses 50 miles away and measured as a 2.1-magnitude seismic event, according to the United States Geological Survey.
"Fire officials fear that the number of casualties could rise as high as 60 to 70 dead, said Dr. George Smith, the emergency management system director of the city.
"That's a really rough number, I'm getting that figure from firefighters, we don't know yet," he said. "We have two EMS personnel that are dead for sure, and there may be three firefighters that are dead."
Early Thursday morning, firefighters painstakingly combed through houses, many reduced to rubble.
"(It's) massive -- just like Iraq. Just like the Murrah (Federal) Building in Oklahoma City," said D.L. Wilson of the public safety department.
What caused the explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. was not immediately known. But its location -- next to an apartment complex, a nursing home and a middle school -- did not help matters.
The blast stripped the apartment complex, with 50 units, of its walls and windows. "It was just a skeleton standing up," Wilson said.
The nursing home, with 133 residents, was quickly evacuated.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/texas-explosion/index.html
Some of the comments to this article are very disheartening. Some saying we deserve it because of Iraq and Afghanistan and trolls making inane comments. There are some sick people out there.
TX SGt Patrick Swanton said they still don’t know the cause of the fire.
Also, fire fighters who first responded to fire are still missing.
Is this near you? Are you and your family ok?
Is this near you? Are you and your family ok? Please check in
For anyone interested in helping the animals affected by this disaster:
The La Vega Veterinary Clinic has received four animals so far, is expecting at least two more, and they will be in need of donations. People are not being allowed back in to the evacuation zone, so the true extent of animal needs are unknown at this point.
MONEY is always the best thing to donate during disaster response, so that the people on the ground can buy exactly what they need at any moment as the response needs change. Please send checks directly to:
La Vega Veterinary Clinic
555 East Loop 340
Bellmead, Texas 76705
If anyone of us made stuff in our home that if things went wrong could kill neighbors a quarter mile away we’d spend the rest of our lives in prison as a terrorist.
Until greed or stupidity is eliminated we need regulations that will hold accountable those who own the business. I’ve always said that regulations would be unnecessary if owners and CEOs were forced to live next door to the business. The CEO should be in Guantonimo.