Though natural disasters are inherently chaotic and unpredictable, there’s one thing about them you can always rely on. Whenever disaster strikes, you know it’s going to spawn more disasters. Hurricane Harvey is no exception. The storm hasn’t just flooded homes and business. It has caused fuel and food shortages, lootings, and will likely soon cause disease breakouts from people coming into contact with the toxic flood waters.
But that’s not all. Apparently the storm could lead to a massive industrial explosion. Since Monday a chemical plant in the town of Crosby (which is just outside of Houston), has been struggling to deal with the flood. The substances within the facility are unstable, and according to the CEO of the company that owns the building, they could burst into flames in the very near future.
“We have an unprecedented 6 feet of water at the plant,” Arkema President and CEO Rich Rowe said in comments made Wednesday. “We have lost primary power and two sources of emergency backup power.
“As a result, we have lost critical refrigeration of the materials on site that could now explode and cause a subsequent intense fire. The high water and lack of power leave us with no way to prevent it,” he said.
Rowe added: “We have evacuated our personnel for their own safety. The federal, state and local authorities were contacted a few days ago, and we are working very closely with them to manage this matter. They have ordered the surrounding community to be evacuated, too.”
Residents within a 1.5-mile radius of the facility, which is near Houston, have been told to leave, according to the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office.
So far this doesn’t appear to be a case of a neglectful company that failed to prepare for a disaster. It looks like Arkema has done everything it could to secure its chemicals, and there isn’t much that can be done now to prevent an explosion. Since there’s no electricity and no way to reach the building, it’ll be a miracle of this doesn’t end in disaster.
The problem faced by Arkema is that the chemicals in the facility need to be kept at a stable temperature. With the flooding it appears that power has been knocked out, and the refrigeration system has broken down. According to a statement that was recently posted by the company:
Our Crosby facility makes organic peroxides, a family of compounds that are used in everything from making pharmaceuticals to construction materials. But organic peroxides may burn if not stored and handled under the right conditions. At Crosby, we prepared for what we recognized could be a worst case scenario. We had redundant contingency plans in place. Right now, we have an unprecedented 6 feet of water at the plant. We have lost primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. As a result, we have lost critical refrigeration of the materials on site that could now explode and cause a subsequent intense fire. The high water and lack of power leave us with no way to prevent it. We have evacuated our personnel for their own safety. The federal, state and local authorities were contacted a few days ago, and we are working very closely with them to manage this matter. They have ordered the surrounding community to be evacuated, too.
For now the situation isn’t too dire, but over the next few days the storm is going pass, and temperatures are going to rise. If power isn’t restored soon then we could see an entire community wiped off the map. Fortunately there’s plenty of time for everyone to be evacuated from the area, but there’s a chance that by the end of this week they won’t have any homes to return to.
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Take this petition viral my peeps !!! Sign and pass it on to everyone you know !!!
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/declare-george-soros-terrorist-and-seize-all-his-related-organizations-assets-under-rico-and-ndaa-law
🙂
Thanks DK. I have been saying this all year long that Soros is a domestic terrorist. The petition has surpassed the 57K signature mark so far, as 100K signatures are needed. Keep sending this to every one you know, make it go viral on your FraudBook pages.
Imprison all the parasites.
alert? lol you’re days late and no here is 1 mile away from the planet.
10-80-10
You may want to fill up your gas tank while you can.
Some DFW stations may run out of gas this Labor Day weekend
“Multiple refineries have shut down in Houston, Baytown, Port Arthur and other areas slammed by Harvey and the historic flooding that followed. Some pipelines that move fuel out of the Gulf Coast also are down,”
ht tp://www.star-telegram.com/news/traffic/gas-prices/article170270997.htm
Direct link…
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/traffic/gas-prices/article170270997.htm
This statement: Since there’s no electricity and no way to reach the building, it’ll be a miracle of this doesn’t end in disaster.
Solution: Why cant the US Army bring in a few of these massive Helicopters and transport some big generators and diesel fuel in to the location to run them? To bring the refrigeration back on line.
They do this Shit all the time in Afghanistan with unlimited budgets – Link: ht tps://www.army.mil/article/87545
Oh No the sky is falling the sky is falling. BS.
They are reporting 2 explosions and black smoke at 0200 this morning from the site.
it is a small price to pay so people can live in texas
KER-POW!
Hi all forgot to mention I’ll be heading to that archery , black powder shoot it’s gonna be awesome to bad we can’t post personal photos I’d send out a few.
3 days of wilderness camping traditional crafts open trading post black powder tomahawk axe and knife throwing. Leaving in the morning I’ll post as I go
Angry Beaver, I hope you have a great time. I would say have a blast, but that might not be appropriate to say to someone going to black powder shoot?!?! LOL
Tell us about it when you get back.
I’m not doing the black powder I singed up for longbow and the hawk throw and a Flynt knapping course. I’ll be using the willow flatbow I was given in the buffalo hunt last year. The black powder guys have a few cannons they will be messing with after the the pig roast.
And I did mention everyone is welcome ☺
Angry Beaver:
Cloves and pig is a good idea. Cook pig till fully cooked. Very important. Enjoy!
_ cloves kills parasites
__pig can have a parasite that eats your brain
__pig = pork
__not kosher nor eaten by Islamists
__hard to digest and toxic when past due date
__if you still want to venture there, do it right and live to fight.
__
was that black powder shoot or black prowler shoot?
I helped evacuate people during a chemical fire. When dangerous chemicals burn, the air becomes full of chemicals that stick to your skin and penetrate to your blood and vital organs through your skin and lungs.
Shower thoroughly. If you own a gas mask, by all means, use it even if you don’t smell chemicals or perceive smoke in the air. If you’ve been near by the chemical fire for an extended time and you are not feeling well, get checked out at the hospital with blood work. If you have elevated readings in your liver that show toxicity, follow your doctor’s orders. I used an over-the-counter tea from the health food store, “Daily Detox”. It worked for me.
.
The biggest problem I see is Texas law does not require this business to disclose what chemicals are present, so emergency workers don’t even know what to prepare for. Most states require chemical plants to notify the city or state of what chemicals are present in advance in case there is an emergency.
That’s just not true…THCA and Federal requirements must be met.
Really like we care about some chemical company. They are a corporation that has insuranceto cover their losses. Hell with them. Seems like they wanna put the flood behind them and bombard us with irrelevant shit to hide the fact that FEMA has no plan to get people housed and kids back to school. They have driven a wedge between the American people so we will fight and kill each other while they slither around with excuses. As I see it FEMA has done nothing and people have rescued each other. Let this be a lesson to all those who think bigger gov is the answer.
Having worked in the chemical then oil refining industries for three decades, the public has no idea how close disaster comes. If its averted it never makes the news. Generally it takes five things to line up for a catastrophe. Your always running with one or two. At three you get nervous, at four you hold your breath. For economic reasons I have witnessed running at three and on occasion even four. They call it, “Calculated Risk”. Some companies are better, some worse. If one was to analyze the root causes the most common is postponed maintenance not of one item but several. An understandable example is a filthy sight glass hence unusable coupled with a malfunctioning level regulator / indicator is not uncommon. In essence being forced to run blind. The optimistic supervisors rise to the top of decision making because no one wants to hear bad news. Every time nothing happens they take ownership with, “Told you do”. Every time that happens it reinforces their mindset. I have dug my heels in and said , “no”. It certainly hinders your career. Were disasters every averted? Who knows? If they never happen the opposition just shrugs. I’m convinced government pretty much runs the same way.
it blew
ht tp://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/31/2-explosions-black-smoke-reported-at-chemical-plant-outside-houston.html
Kevin2, Memphis has an oil refinery and some chemical plants close to the MS River. If anything serious happens there it would be catastrophic.
Most of their fires / explosions are internal not effecting the public. If they use HF Acid on their cat cracker / alkylation unit as opposed to the more common (and expensive to use Sulfuric) the HF cloud is deadly in small concentration. The absolute best thing is a pouring rain to knock down any vapor cloud. A flammable vapor release that doesn’t go to flare or the flare goes out is big danger too. Many of the gasses have a specific gravity greater than 1 with C3 (propane) being 2.5. That means that in the case of propane its 2.5 as dense as air. It follows the ground looking for an ignition source and its not choosy. Internally mercaptans (stink) is not added so its detection is far more difficult. Once again pray for rain to knock down that vapor cloud.
They’re dangerous places to work and often, very often, very sharp conscious operators / first line supervisors are the difference between safety and disaster. Right now the pressure is on to keep running as the “margins” are no doubt very high. Its supply demand in action. That adds even more pressure to run a cripple as opposed to shut down.
Yes quite right. Same for the nuclear industry. Most of those guys don’t even have the capacity to run on backup systems for more than 24 hours. We personally fight against these risks with our daily dollars spent. We do our best to live in a chemical free house, chemical free diet, and wood instead of plastic, metal instead of fabric and plastic. Anything from a flood to a solar flare can send the whole system south, it’s the emp risk group or something along those lines which promotes better backup strategy for longer periods. These major companies are quite irresponsible to have even built these systems up in the first place. Sadly, safety is not a primary concern for chemical and energy commerce. I don’t subscribe to global warming but I do subscribe to the notion we’re using entirely too many chemicals and polluting too much. When a chicken sandwich can kill you. When your local energy producers can ruin the land. These issues stop being red or blue issues.
I don’t subscribe to global warming either. China is exempt, the developing world is exempt. Its nothing more than an ostensible excuse to transfer wealth (industrial capacity) to the developing world. In the end the US cuts one unit of carbon to atmosphere while China adds two.
Awareness is the tool used to combat ignorance. When society allows ignorance to dominate, it pays a heavy price.
How many times have we seen homes built in flood planes, on unstable hill sides and along fault lines?
When considering a suitable place to live and raise a family, one should not limit their focus on the nest, but pay attention to the tree as well.
“Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.” –W. Gaddis–
If I may add….
A rain suit or poncho: Will not be as proficient as military NBC suit but cover personal clothing, exposed skin with gloves, eye protection and not tarry in the area and be upwind. Just to get to safety. Chemicals could cause the
deterioration of commercial purchased products.
Many people do not have protective masks but wrap a towel or scarf as they do in the middle east or in the south west in a dust storm type situation
But those down wind will still feel some effects past the evacuated effected area.
Chemicals have more rights to blow up than people do.
They should have put all of those chemicals into reefer trailers and trucked them to high ground. I drove truck 40 years. And I hauled lots of stuff that needed to be kept a certain temps
Think we need more oil refineries. AWAY from the coast.
Your not going to move them now unless of course you want to pay for the massive cost via an increase in the price of gasoline. Everything costs.
We’re about to find out what essential activities take place in that part of America that aren’t done elsewhere. Gasoline refineries are naturally the first thing that comes to mind. We may find that we can’t get some badly needed items like medications. Every major future SHTF scenario carries unforeseen consequences. You can’t stockpile them all
Old Guy……they are under 6 feet of water.
On a side note here…
I think we may be witnessing a real SHTF situation here along the gulf coast of Texas…..and by extension we may have some real repercussions across the state and even nationwide.
We are already experiencing gasoline shortage here in north Texas. As I understand it, most if not all of the refineries along the Texas coast are shut down. For how long, is anyone’s guess.
Right now, people’s basic needs are being met. But we are only 6 days into this thing and the situation is still very tenuous. The question is what will happen with folks in the days to come. People tend to pull together in disasters….in the short term. But as events progress, that situation may very well change.
The economic impact of this is going to go far beyond just the immediate situation as well. For instance, it has been reported that only about 20% of the homes impacted by this have flood insurance. I heard one estimate at over 75,000 individual homes have been rendered uninhabitable and will likely have to be torn down. I’m sure a lot of folks, not having flood insurance, will simply be forced to walk away from the mortgages that they have.
The Texas gulf coast region is also a hub for shipping.
It makes you wonder if this could be the black swan that kicks off the whole shebang.
Anon5, I have the same feeling about a black swan. I halfway expect some other consequences to come up as a result of Harvey.
Two Explosions At Flooded Arkema Chemical Plant In Texas
“At approximately 2 a.m. CDT, we were notified by the Harris County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of two explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas.”
ht tp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-31/two-explosions-reported-arkema-chemical-plant-texas
Direct link…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-31/two-explosions-reported-arkema-chemical-plant-texas
Certainly a boat or boats could come in with Gen Sets. I think we have become too stupid to survive.
There will surely be more to come from Harvey. I also think this is just the beginning.
And to top it off another shtf might be brewing along the east coast next week, Hurricane Irma. Let’s hope it loses strength in the next few days because if it doesn’t it will hit the east coast during a full moon, which is known to intensify tropical storms and hurricanes just prior and also at landfall. The full moon intensified Super Storm Sandy.
We are pretty far inland here, in rural upstate NY, with only a few neighbors and close to a working dairy farm. We have a good relationship with the owners. We have our own vegetable garden on our property and plenty of stockpiled supplies, food and canned fruits and preserves. But a major storm could wipe out our garden. Hopefully Irma will die out before it gets anywhere near the east coast.