Posted on 08/31/2017 5:41:17 AM PDT by texas booster
The Harris County Emergency Operations Center reported explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby early Thursday, the company said.
Arkema said Harris County officials notified the company about the explosions around 2 a.m. Thursday, adding that residents may hear additional explosions because the product is stored in multiple locations within the plant, which is 25 miles NE of downtown Houston.
Nearby residents should stay inside, turn off their air conditioning and close their windows and doors.
"You shouldn't be here, but if you haven't left, shelter in place," Arkema spokesman Jeff Carr said.
The company initially reported two box vans full of chemicals exploded. Wednesday morning, the company clarified there was just one van that exploded with multiple containers inside.
The company expects additional explosions, as the other vans combust, Carr said.
The plant has nine box vans with 36,000 pounds of organic peroxide in each. The organic peroxide is stored in 15-pound containers, said Harris County Fire Marshall spokeswoman Rachel Moreno.
Three of the vans lost refrigeration by Wednesday morning. Six of them had not,Moreno said.
The explosions started about 1 a.m., causing flames and 40 feet of gray smoke that later turned black.
The company said it had agreed with local authorities that, because of the volatile chemicals involved, "the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out."
... Within 2 hours of the explosions, sheriff's deputies were dispatched to block off roads in the area and a stream of fire trucks headed to the scene.
Highway 90 was blocked in both directions at Crosby Eastgate...
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Apparently, they had some liquid nitrogen there as back-up, but there was a problem with that as well.
That makes more sense. The trailers were a last resort and not just leaving a trailers full of product behind.
Why do they always say to turn off air conditioners? I thought they were designed as a closed loop system. The air is drawn from inside the house then cooled inside the house and distributed inside the house. Rinse and repeat. No outside air is introduced?
Makes you wonder, if they are that important, why weren't the generators installed on a higher floor?
“why weren’t the generators installed on a higher floor? “
Why would any business incur extra expense for 1000 year events, like Harvey flooding? Shit happens. Fix it later.
No higher floor; it's all ground level.
What?
Google Earth GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: 29.948063°N
Longitude: -95.019630°W
The good news is that there is 6 feet of flood water to put the fires out......
Are you saying they cant build a 2 story building there?
No, I'm saying there is not a 2-story building there now for storage of the emergency generators.
A list of chemicals at the plant(via zerohedge):
The company also published a list of the toxic chemicals stored at the doomed facility on its web site, reposted below.
2-ETHYLHEXANOYL CHLORIDE DISTILLED
ACETIC ACID 84%
ACETONE
AROMATIC 100
BENZOYL CHLORIDE
CAUSTIC POTASH 45%
CAUSTIC SODA 50%
CUMENE HYDROPEROXIDE
CUMENE HYDROPEROXIDE
DIMETHYL HEXADIENE
DIMETHYL HEXANEDIOL DH-S
EPSOM SALTS
HEXANE
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE 70%
ISOAMYLENE
ISOAMYLENE
ISOBUTYLENE ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL
MINERAL OIL, WHITE
MINERAL SPIRITS ODORLESS
MONOSODIUM PHOSPHATE
NEODECANOYL CHLORIDE >=98.0% UNDISTILLED
PIVALOYL CHLORIDE 95-100%
PROPYLENE GLYCOL
SODIUM BICARBONATE
SODIUM CARBONATE ANHYDROUS LIGHT
SODIUM SULFATE ANHYDROUS
SODIUM SULFITE ANHYDROUS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFURIC ACID 93% REAGENT ACS
T-BUTYL HYDROPEROXIDE 70%
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