China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Chemical fire adds to storm woes
Rescue efforts continue, Trump pledges $1 million of his own money
At least 2 tons of highly unstable chemicals used in such products as plastics and paint exploded and burned at a flood-crippled plant near Houston early Thursday, sending up a plume of acrid black smoke that stung eyes and lungs.
The blaze at the Arkema Inc chemical plant burned out around midday, but emergency crews continued to hold back because of the danger that eight other trailers containing the same compound could blow, too.
No serious injuries were reported. But the blast added a new hazard to Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath and raised questions about the adequacy of the company’s master plan to protect the public in the event of an emergency in the floodprone Houston metropolitan area of 5.6 million people.
“This should be a wake-up call (for) all kinds of plants that are storing and converting reactive chemicals in areas which have high population densities,” said Nicholas Ashford, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology expert.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Texas environmental regulators called the health risks minimal in Crosby but urged residents downwind to stay indoors with windows closed to avoid inhaling the smoke.
All employees had been pulled from the plant before the blast, and up to 5,000 people living within a mile had been warned to evacuate on Tuesday.
Two explosions in the middle of the night blew open a trailer containing the chemicals, lighting up the sky with 30- to 40-foot flames in the small farm and ranching community of Crosby, 25 miles from Houston, authorities said.
The Texas environmental agency called the smoke “especially acrid and irritating” and said it can impair breathing and inflame the eyes, nose and throat.
Fifteen sheriff’s deputies complained of respiratory irritation. They were examined at a hospital and released.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that US President Donald Trump will donate $1 million of his personal fortune to Hurricane Harvey relief.
“He would like to join in the efforts that a lot of people we have seen across the country do,” press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at the White House, saying the funds would come from the President’s “personal money”.
She said the President hadn’t determined which organization to support, but solicited requests from the media for worthy groups.
Soldiers and police in helicopters and high-water trucks rescued thousands of Texans stranded by floodwater from Hurricane Harvey on Thursday, which has killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million others as it drenches the Gulf Coast.
Some 779,000 Texans have been ordered to evacuate their homes and another 980,000 fled voluntarily amid concerns that swollen reservoirs and rivers could bring new flooding.