. . . and more flood fallout
As if southeast Texas weren’t on edge already.
Two explosions rocked a flooded chemical plant near Houston early Thursday — and up to eight more blasts are still expected.
The small explosions inside the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas, unleashed a noxious plume of black smoke that sent 15 Harris County cops to the hospital, where they were treated for eye irritation.
FEMA officials initially called the smoke from the plant “incredibly dangerous” — but the EPA later said a tested sample did not have worrisome levels of hazardous fumes.
“At this time we are responding to a fire, not a chemical release,” the EPA said in a statement. “We urge everyone in the area to follow the safety instruction of local authorities, specifically avoiding smoke and floodwaters.”
Arkema executive Richard Rennard said the blast was caused by the degradation of chemicals that hadn’t been refrigerated since the plant lost power — and warned that eight more containers could still combust.
“If you breathe in the smoke, it’s going to irritate your lungs,” he said, refusing to answer a reporter’s question about the toxicity of the chemicals in the plant.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality urged people in the immediate area to stay inside as both state and federal environmental regulators continued to monitor the air.r. It wasn’t pie in the sky — it was pies in the kayaks. Workers at a suburban Houston Pizza Hut baked up dozens of pies, piled them on the small, sturdy vessels and pushed them through the muck to surprise stranded residents with free eats.
“We packed 120 pizzas in kayaks and took them out to people in their homes,” Sugar Land branch manager Shayda Habib told the Houston Chronicle.
“The people in the houses didn’t expect us to come. It was so nice to see their smiles after so much gloom.”
Habib said she made the decision to deliver the pies after hearing that her neighbors were hungry and low on food.
“When I heard there were families in need, I knew we needed to act fast,” she told KPRC TV. “I called my husband and asked him to gather up kayaks and meet me at the restaurant.”
Habib said she plans to provide free pizzas to flood victims until the store runs out of ingredients. The heartbreak hotel has apologized.l The parent company of the inn that barred a Texas family from keeping their three dogs with them in their room after they evacuated their home has issued a public apology.
The InterContinental Hotels Group said in a statement Wednesday that it “apologizes to the Parker family for their experience at this hotel, which has been accepting guests’ pets during the storm.”
Parker family members were left stunned Sunday night after they fled their home in New Territory and traveled to Katy, where they found the only open hotel — a Holiday Inn.
But instead of welcoming the family and their four-legged brood, the hotel told them it had a “no-pets policy” and couldn’t bring their dogs inside.
The Parkers have since left the hotel and taken shelter at a relative’s home.