A spokeswoman for Arkema Inc. on Wednesday said that their plant in Crosby, Texas was poised to explode after it was flooded following Hurricane Harvey.
The situation arose when the plant lost power and the backup generators as power supply continues to be affected by Harvey which has left the plant without refrigeration for chemicals that continue to change in composition as the temperatures inside the plant rise.
Janet Smith, in an interview with The Associated Press, said that the fire will resemble a gasoline fire and that the flames will be very intense and explosive in nature before chief executive Rich Rowe echoed Janet’s statement as he said that there was no way to prevent the explosion.
The company manufactures organic peroxides which are used in the pharmaceutical and construction industry. It had evacuated the majority of its Crosby plant last week but left behind a crew of 11 people. The crew was later taken out of the plant and residents living within 1.5 miles of the site were asked to evacuate their homes on Tuesday after the power supply to the plant was cut off.
Rachel Moreno, spokeswoman of the Harris County Fire Marshal said that since the plant is surrounded by water caused by the floods, they don’t expect the fire to spread.
In the most recent submission to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Arkema said that 1.1 million residents could be affected in a radius of up to 23 miles in the worst case scenario as mentioned in information compiled by a non-profit organization and uploaded to the Internet by Houston Chronicle.
The company’s vice president of manufacturing, technology, and regulatory services in the Americas, Daryl Roberts told the AP that they had not prepared for a worst-case scenario but added that they’re well prepared to tackle anything within a 1.5-mile radius. He also said that the containers storing the organic peroxide had controllers which slowed the release of chemicals and due to the floods he said that the chemicals would vaporize quickly and this will eventually reduce the intensity and size of the fire.
Share This Post
