A massive explosion on Friday leveled a warehouse in Houston, Texas, killing two workers, damaging nearby buildings and homes, and rousing frightened residents from their sleep, authorities said.
The explosion occurred at about 4:30am inside a building at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing, which makes valves and provides thermal-spray coatings for equipment in various industries, authorities said.
The building was reduced to burning rubble and debris, and some of the surrounding buildings suffered heavy damage to parts of their walls and roofs.
Photo: Reuters
Killed were employees Frank Flores and Geraldo Carasquillo, Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a Friday evening news conference.
The two had arrived at their workplace early and were using its fitness gym when the blast happened, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
Authorities believed there were no other fatalities, but 20 other people were injured — two other warehouse workers and 18 others from neighboring homes and businesses, Turner said.
None of the injuries were thought to be life-threatening.
Acevedo had said earlier that a family member of one of those killed was a US Marine training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and called on the Marines to let the man return to Houston.
Local and federal officials will be at the scene for the next three to four days working through the ruins to determine what caused the explosion, Acevedo said.
Authorities do not believe the explosion was intentional, although a criminal investigation is under way, he said.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said hazardous materials crews have secured the valve on a 7,571-liter tank of propylene that had been leaking.
Propylene is a colorless gas used to produce chemicals in plastics, synthetic rubber and gasoline. It is highly flammable and can explode in a fire.
People exposed to propylene can become dizzy and light-headed, and the gas can also cause liver damage.
Nearby homes sustained significant damage. Some were knocked off their foundations.
Manny Jawa, a volunteer with the Houston office of the American Red Cross, said his agency had helped about 100 people who came to an evacuation shelter that had been set up at about 6am at a church near the blast site.
The shelter offered residents food and water and information about help they could receive.
Officials said that they planned to open an overnight shelter at a different church for residents who had been displaced from their homes and had nowhere else to go.
Miguel Ramirez, 65, tried to get out of his bedroom to see what had happened, but his bedroom door would not open.
Ramirez said he had his son hand him a small screwdriver through an opening underneath the door and he used that to remove the pins from the door’s hinges so he could get out.
Once he got out, Ramirez said he found that a large portion of the ceiling in his living room had collapsed onto the floor and sofa. Chunks of insulation were on the carpeted living room and on the couch. The wooden beams on the ceiling were exposed.
The explosion also shattered the sliding door in his kitchen that leads to his backyard.
“The good thing is nobody got hurt,” said Ramirez, who lives about 150m from the company where the explosion occurred.
A phone number for Watson Grinding was out of service when called by a reporter with The Associated Press on Friday morning.
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