A flooded chemical plant near Houston that was left without power was rocked by two explosions early Thursday — unleashing noxious fumes that sent a police deputy to the hospital, officials said.
Arkema Inc. reported that Harris County officials notified it about the blasts, which sent black smoke spewing from the plant in Crosby, about 25 miles northeast of storm-ravaged Houston.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said one deputy had been taken to a hospital after inhaling fumes from the plant and nine others drove themselves to seek treatment as a precaution.
The injured deputy — one of several who had been dispatched to keep residents away from the plant — suffered respiratory problems after driving through a plume of smoke, Harrison County spokesman Jason Spenser told the Houston Chronicle.
However, the sheriff’s office tweeted that Arkema said the smoke was “a non-toxic irritant.”
“What we were told is that the fumes from this chemical were not life-threatening,” Spencer said. “I don’t think any of our deputies are in a life-threatening situation.”
As a precaution, officials had already evacuated an area within 1.5 miles of the organic peroxides plant, which operators had said was at risk of exploding due to a “critical issue” triggered by Tropical Storm Harvey.
“Unprecedented flooding overwhelmed our primary power and two sources of emergency backup power,” Arkema said in a statement.
“Organic peroxides are extremely flammable and, as agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out,” Arkema said.
“We want local residents to be aware that product is stored in multiple locations on the site, and a threat of additional explosion remains. Please do not return to the area within the evacuation zone until local emergency response authorities announce it is safe to do so.”
Neither Harris County nor Arkema said whether the billowing smoke was toxic to those in the vicinity, Agence France-Presse reported.
Local resident John Villarreal, 45, told AFP he had left his home, about a mile from the plant, to survey flooding when he saw “a lot of smoke, and you could see the flames in the smoke.”
“We could hear a few pops,” he said. “I would call it like an aerosol-can-in-a-fire type deal.”
The former plant worker said he and many neighbors did not evacuate the area because “there was really no clear direction” from authorities about potential risks of staying.
The plant manufactures organic peroxides, a family of compounds used in everything from pharmaceuticals to construction materials, but the material must remain cold or it can combust, the Washington Post reported.
Villarreal is sheltering 10 relatives and neighbors whose homes were flooded during Harvey’s devastating onslaught that turned roads into rivers throughout Houston and the surrounding region.
“We’re all invested heavily in this area, so we’re doing the best we can to not let the worst happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Harvey weakened as it moved inland over Louisiana on Thursday — while the death toll from the historic storm was rising as bodies were being found in receding waters.
Harvey has killed at least 37 people and forced 32,000 people into shelters since coming ashore Friday near Rockport, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico.
On Thursday, Harvey’s remnants are forecast to move northeast through Louisiana into Mississippi, dumping 4 to 8 inches of rain, the National Hurricane Center said.
Flood watches and warnings extend from the Texas-Louisiana coast into Kentucky.
“Our whole city is underwater,” said Derrick Foreman, mayor of Port Arthur, a city of 55,000 people about 100 miles east of Houston that has been inundated with almost 30 inches of rain, Reuters reported.
Nearby Beaumont said it had lost its water supply due to flood damage to its main pumping station and residents would lose water pressure from Thursday morning.
Fort Bend County ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday for areas near the Barker Reservoir, which was threatening to flood. The reservoir is about 20 miles west of Houston.
In hard-struck Houston, meanwhile, clear skies finally brought relief Wednesday after five days of catastrophic downpours.
The first flight out of the fourth-largest city in the US since the storm hit boarded Wednesday evening. Mayor Sylvester Turner said he hoped the port of Houston, one of the nation’s busiest, would reopen soon.
With Post wires