That must have been one amazing experience. I heard that at least half the dead were onlookers who had gathered to view the ship on fire, without any notion that it could blow.
Odd: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3324923/posts
My parents had been WWII air raid wardens, and were fully trained first aiders. As an only child, I attended their training, and was certified, too.
My dad went to TC from Houston before noon, taking a truck load of trained first aiders and supplies. He had supervised piping installation during construction of the Monsanto Plant, and knew his way around inside it, so, he was assigned to lead rescue teams to isolated control rooms, etc. There was escaping chlorine gas, so they were all issued gas masks. Because he had to remove his mask to shout directions, Dad was exposed to the chlorine, and was sent home before midnight. He had made it to within a block of our house when the second ship exploded...
Mother went with him the second day and worked in a first aid station. They discovered that there were dozens of shocked, dazed and deafened victims walking around all over town, many with their skin crisscrossed with tiny splits from the blast overpressure. They often recoiled when adults approached them, but someone discovered that many of them would let a child take them by the hand and lead them to help.
So, the third day. my folks took me into the damaged area, and I led seven adults to first aid. In addition to nearly being trapped when burning oil from a suddenly-ruptured oil tank flooded a ditch between the aid station and our vehicles, I saw many grisly sights to which no child should be exposed...
The adoption of electronic sirens was a real blessing to me. For many years, until they were replaced, the sound of an old, mechanical "growler" siren would make me break out in a cold sweat... Needless to say, I would not ever delibertely expose a child to a scene like that...
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I saw many astounding things, but one memorable indication of the force of the blast really stands out: the "stick" or "boom" from a motor crane was blown nearly a mile. It hit the ground, bounced up, hit a wooden power pole about ten feet up, folded around it like a pair of tweezers, and dropped to the ground. Neither the pole nor any of the wires on it was broken! I climbed up on top of the boom -- and, still could not reach the marks where it hit the pole...
Thanks! I hadn’t heard about the Conroe event. Possibly several “downhole” explosive charges detonating might explain the multiple blasts...