Huge fertilizer plant explosion near Waco, Texas

[Netjet!]

(CNN) -- An explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant Wednesday night in the area of West, Texas, sending a massive fireball into the sky and causing dozens of injuries, officials said.
A number of nearby residents were being evacuated because of the possibility of another explosion, officials said.
A hospital in nearby Waco, Texas, has been told to anticipate 100 injured people coming in from the fertilizer plant area, an official at the medical facility said.
Glenn Robinson, CEO of Hillcrest Hospital, said a field triage station was being set up on a football field near the plant some 18 miles north of Waco after the Wednesday night explosion.
Report: Explosion at Texas plant
"We have had a steady flow of patients coming in by ambulance as well as by private vehicles," Robinson told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
More than 60 patients were received as of 10 p.m. (11 p.m. ET), Robinson said, suffering from "blast injuries, orthopedic injuries (and) a lot of lacerations. While some of the injuries are minor, others are "quite serious," he said.
Hazardous material teams were being rushed to the scene, an emergency management official said.
At least six helicopters are going to fly out those who are injured, Robinson said. Others are being transported by ambulance, and some are getting to the hospital by car, he added.
Two other hospitals in the region were also assisting.

Source - CNN (Article continues)

Condolences to anyone that's affected. If you're in the area, do whatever you need to do to stay safe. If you have relatives in the area, I suggest you try to contact them.

Some sources have reported 60-70 deaths, and growing. There was a retirement home next to the plant, which completely collapsed and apparently has people trapped inside.


EDIT1: Blast location:




EDIT2: EMS/Fire Officials in West confirm 60-70 death toll as of current. 2 dead EMTs, 3 suspected firefighters dead and 1 police officer


EDIT3: GIF of explosion and video:

[justin_ator]

That video...
yikes

[bmah]

I just saw the video footage of the explosion, and the sound was unreal. Have a look (warning: loud):

Condolences to the people there who were affected! That is scary as hell. D:

[DayMan951]

oh shit. vid made me jump

[Senip]

Heard the explosion at work, thought it was thunder, then had a buddy inform me that it was the fertilizer plant.

[Tarrik]

Explosion was awesome, Old people next to explosion not so awesome..Or the dead people.

[Charu]

Whoa, and to get video of said blast as well. That's really scary. Holy cow.

[Netjet!]

CBS Dallas live stream of the coverage:

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/live-video/



EDIT: Hillcrest Hospital Hotline to Check on Loved Ones - 254-202-1100

[igotrhythm]

Wow. Dude was less than a mile from the blast when he taped it.

I have a few friends on another site that FELT THE SHOCKWAVE. Man, that's gonna be a mess to clean up.

Worst part is, it was pointed out on the rapidly moving comments that it's almost 20 years since the Branch Davidian incident in Waco.

[Izzy]

So... Why is fertilizer so explosive?

[igotrhythm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPK_rating

Potassium oxide--yeah, that sounds explosive enough. You heat it, stuff gets excited, stuff goes boom. Never mind that the actual potassium in fertilizer is more in the form of KCl, or the carbonate, or even the sulfate.

Now imagine how much of that is in a whole freaking manufacturing plant.

[Emo_Saur_]

"The true force of the explosion was greater than a 2.1 Magnitude earthquake"



.....................What.

[Choofers]

holy shit that vid


hoooly shit

[adlp]

it's insane to see how an explosions like that happen so quickly and violently from a subatomic level

[Quigly]

hey earth you having a bad week or what

[Choofers]

By earth you mean the US, right

[i love you]

HOLY SHIT...

[JohnRedWolf87]

I hope this was just an accident.

[Emo_Saur_]

Originally Posted by JohnRedWolf87

I hope this was just an accident.

Much more likely to be an accident than the Boston incident. Fertilizer has highly flammable ingredients, and it's not the first time it has happened by any means.

[Choofers]

oh no emo he was implying that this might also be work of the government