Massive Fertilizer Explosion in West, TX

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in Waco West, Texas! Here is the linkl!

http://www.cnn.com/2....html?hpt=hp_t3

Update 11:00PM EST: CNN states on TV Reuters is reporting a nearby nursing home has collapsed!

Edited April 18, 2013 by xendrome
fixed location to "West" not "Waco"

[Gladiatorus]

Ha! I like your avatar, lctb51. Its cool. (Y)

[Raa]

Man, someone's going to be dirty over that...

[COKid]

Thanks for the update. Sounds pretty bad.

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Gawker has a photo of the explosion here and info!

http://gawker.com/59...dium=socialflow

[Growled Member]

Any idea yet what caused the explosion?

[COKid]

Near Waco, huh. I am quite interested in the cause of this one, given the location and the fact the Branch Davidians siege ended on April 19.

Hopefully just a coincidence. I'm not a tin hatter, but even I am starting to get spooked at all the crazy stuff happening this week in the US.

[Growled Member]

Hopefully just a coincidence. I'm not a tin hatter, but even I am starting to get spooked at all the crazy stuff happening this week in the US.

I am not a tin hatter either but all this is enough to make one pause and wonder, for sure.

[Andre S. Veteran]

This is probably an accident, but we'll see.

[2xSilverKnight]

BREAKING NOW: @ABC NEWS is reporting at least 200 people injured, 40 critically; 75-100 houses or businesses completely destroyed.

That's a pretty big explosion. Really hope it's not an attack but just an accident.

[techbeck]

well that stinks. Hope people are ok

[2xSilverKnight]

Video of the explosion.

Skip to 25 sec

[francescob]

Whoops sorry for previous joke, didn't read there were so many people injured :(

[CJ33]

hopefully people rising against Monsanto?

EDIT: wow, i just saw the video posted above, I hope nobody was hurt! That is SO scary.

[Shiranui]

Considering there was a fire beforehand, it looks like it was just an accident.

That was a huge explosion though....

[DocM]

^ that **** really exploded, literally.

wow.

Isn't fertilizer used to make many bombs, such as the one used in the Oklahoma City bombing?

Is it explosive by itself or only when combined with other ingredients?

*researching now*

Ammonium nitrate can make most anything made of carbohydrates explode. One great example is ANFO (ammonium nitrate + fuel oil) which is used for blasting in mines, but was also mixed with nitromethane to make the Oklahoma City bomb. Nasty stuff.

Even with nothing else it can detonate, disastrously. Back in 1947 shiploads of AN detonated and leveled major portions of Texas City, Texas. As strong a blast as a small nuke; 2,300 tons of AN just on the one ship. Cause: a small fire.

[trag3dy]

hopefully people rising against Monsanto?

EDIT: wow, i just saw the video posted above, I hope nobody was hurt! That is SO scary.

They're reporting around 70 people dead a little while ago.

[COKid]

CBS is reporting 60 dead so far. After today's erroneous arrest report from the Boston bombing, I don't trust anything CNN reports.

http://www.cbsnews.c...er-plant-blast/

Live video if you're interested. Not sure how long the coverage will last:

http://www.cbsnews.c...ews-live-video/

Sheesh, I am really getting tragedy burnout this week. What the heck else is going to happen? :(

Update - Now the CBS page says "Unknown number killed".

[gameboy1977]

how an awful news! I lives in texas. waco is south to my area DFW area north up. :(

[Azies]

What a terrible weak, there is an incident EVERY DAY so far this week.

[DocM]

Yeah. Sometimes life sucks, then it gets worse before getting better. We're really overdue for some good news everyone can agree on

[dead.cell]

What a crazy week... :(

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

how an awful news! I lives in texas. waco is south to my area DFW area north up. :(

I'm in Abilene, and I swore we had a minor earthquake earlier in the evening. Could've just been me, but I swear, I felt the concrete below my feet shaking...or maybe it was the explosion, but either way, it was weird. I literally felt the ground shake, like it was shaking my boots. Could be related, but then again, maybe it wasn't, I'm not sure either way....still, a scary scenario either way, and I pray for the families this explosion may have affected. Such sad, sad things, happening in our country. Makes me sad. :'(

[Ghost5525]

I'm in Abilene, and I swore we had a minor earthquake earlier in the evening. Could've just been me, but I swear, I felt the concrete below my feet shaking...or maybe it was the explosion, but either way, it was weird. I literally felt the ground shake, like it was shaking my boots. Could be related, but then again, maybe it wasn't, I'm not sure either way....still, a scary scenario either way, and I pray for the families this explosion may have affected. Such sad, sad things, happening in our country. Makes me sad. :'(

Well they said people 10 miles away got their windows blown out - another report on CNN said it completely gutted a 50 unit apartment complex.

[I am Reid]

you would be surprised how massive these explosions can be, even simple grain silos are quite well known for their dangers of exploding on scales similar to this. When you have something that is somewhat flammable in a fine powered airborne form like even simple flour, just a small spark can create an explosion on par with a large military bomb.