MR

Untold number of deaths. Firefighters on scene are missing. Hundreds injured. Preliminary reports of at least 50 nearby homes obliterated.
Amateur video of the blast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... 8iDD4nabp0

Story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-575 ... explosion/

CBS just updated: Number of deaths so far at 60-70 and expected to rise well above that.

What the good God is going on on this world right now.

Andrew wrote:What the good God is going on on this world right now.

I was just saying that exact same thing to my wife. The past few days have been really strange and seemingly packed with so many various incidents/events - none of which were good news.
This fertilizer plant explosion is bad and getting worse. The fire still isn't out but the city's firetrucks were all at the plant when the explosion occurred - as were all of their firefighters, all of which are missing! This town outside of Waco has only 2,600 residents so their infrastructure is not very big to begin with add to that the huge number of casualties and injured. Firefighters from neighboring towns are having to come to aid them. This thing is going to be far worse than currently meets the eye once daylight hits.

Very bad things happening this week. Good God in heaven, why?

I saw this as Hubby Bub and I were about to bed down last night and was sent straight to scared
over thoughts of our Texas members here. Sir Shoot, you okay?, please, do let us know.
I'm not shamed to say that I was on my knees in prayer just moments ago for the planet we
play on and the people in it. I'll try harder today to spread happy with thoughts of those who
no longer have that choice.

Looks like a mushroom cloud

Explosion created an earthquake of 2.1 ....

Dear Jesus please come quickly.

Is there anyone from here that lives in that part of Texas?

Rick needs to check in...

News saying blast felt all the way up to south Dallas..

Rick, check in buddy... Me and the cats needs to know you are okay.

So, so much incorrectly reported information in the minutes and hours immediately following the incident.
Originally reported that:

**60-70 people confirmed dead
As of this post there were 15 confirmed casualties.

**The entire firefighting staff of the town of West was missing and presumed dead due to all of them being at the plant when it exploded.
True, all of them were there but they had been given an order to retreat minutes before the blast. 2 FF's still missing.

**At least 50 homes obliterated.
Actually the 4-5 blocks closest to the plant sustained damage to some extent with a total of 2 buildings completely destroyed so far.

Whatever happened to accountability and integrity in news reporting. It's disgusting how it has become the norm for reporters to report unconfirmed info and speculation as fact and then when it turns out they blatantly lied basically, you never hear a retraction (unless forced to via a lawsuit...) or an acknowledgement of their misinformation. It's all about sensationalizing and grand-standing.

Moon Beam wrote:I saw this as Hubby Bub and I were about to bed down last night and was sent straight to scared
over thoughts of our Texas members here. Sir Shoot, you okay?, please, do let us know.
I'm not shamed to say that I was on my knees in prayer just moments ago for the planet we
play on and the people in it. I'll try harder today to spread happy with thoughts of those who
no longer have that choice.

I'm fine. Thanks for caring. Gayle (txfirefighter) is much closer than me, and if she was home when it blew, she probably felt it. But she is plenty far away enough to be perfectly safe.

Rick wrote:I'm fine. Thanks for caring. Gayle (txfirefighter) is much closer than me, and if she was home when it blew, she probably felt it. But she is plenty far away enough to be perfectly safe.

I'm so relieved to see this, Sir Shoot.
I do hope all our Texas MR members are well away from all the damage.

Glad to hear your still doing Rick...

JRNYMAN wrote:So, so much incorrectly reported information in the minutes and hours immediately following the incident.
Originally reported that:

**60-70 people confirmed dead
As of this post there were 15 confirmed casualties.

**The entire firefighting staff of the town of West was missing and presumed dead due to all of them being at the plant when it exploded.
True, all of them were there but they had been given an order to retreat minutes before the blast. 2 FF's still missing.

**At least 50 homes obliterated.
Actually the 4-5 blocks closest to the plant sustained damage to some extent with a total of 2 buildings completely destroyed so far.

Whatever happened to accountability and integrity in news reporting. It's disgusting how it has become the norm for reporters to report unconfirmed info and speculation as fact and then when it turns out they blatantly lied basically, you never hear a retraction (unless forced to via a lawsuit...) or an acknowledgement of their misinformation. It's all about sensationalizing and grand-standing.

Reminds me of the San Bruno, CA natural gas explosion a few years back. A guy wanting to be a news reporter went over and hooked up his movie camera and then got in front of it talking about how a jet crashed from SFO and how the vapors from the jet fuel was burning his eyes and causing him difficulties breathing while he was "reporting" the disaster. He somehow sent the footage off to local news agencies who aired it while the fire was still burning strong. Soon after they realized it wasn't a plane crash at all, the news agencies announced it was false but gave the guy credit saying there was no way that he'd know that it wasn't a jet liner crash from all the smoke and fire. Friggin idiots!

tater1977 wrote:Glad to hear your still doing Rick...

Me too!

From all the devistation I've seen in video and pictures, it's lucky that the casualty numbers have been so low, imo.

scarygirl wrote:

tater1977 wrote:Glad to hear your still doing Rick...

Me too!

I didn't even know it had happened. My daughter texted me from Norfolk, VA to ask me where the explosion was. I said it was near the finish line at the Boston Marathon. She said, not that one, the one in West, TX. So that's what prompted me to find out about it.

Thanks for worrying about me. All is well where I am, which is close to 100 miles north of there.

West, Texas, is best known for the Czech Stop where you can get some wonderful fruit kolache pastries, and other Czech food items.

Yo Rick! Where you at?

BOC

BigOkieChris wrote:West, Texas, is best known for the Czech Stop where you can get some wonderful fruit kolache pastries, and other Czech food items.

Yo Rick! Where you at?

BOC

I live in North Richland Hills, but I was born and raised in McAlester, OK. I'm an Okie too.

Rick wrote:

BigOkieChris wrote:West, Texas, is best known for the Czech Stop where you can get some wonderful fruit kolache pastries, and other Czech food items.

Yo Rick! Where you at?

BOC

I live in North Richland Hills, but I was born and raised in McAlester, OK. I'm an Okie too.

Right on! I live in north Mexico a.k.a. San Antonio. Been here almost four years. It's a'ight; not paradise.

BigOkieChris wrote:

Rick wrote:

BigOkieChris wrote:West, Texas, is best known for the Czech Stop where you can get some wonderful fruit kolache pastries, and other Czech food items.

Yo Rick! Where you at?

BOC

I live in North Richland Hills, but I was born and raised in McAlester, OK. I'm an Okie too.

Right on! I live in north Mexico a.k.a. San Antonio. Been here almost four years. It's a'ight; not paradise.

That city sure has grown. I love San Antonio.

There's a conspiracy theory going around that the big explosion was caused by a missile strike. Yeah, let's just pretend a fertilizer plant would spill absolutely no flammable chemicals into the air that could cause a really huge explosion. Nah, couldn't be.

conversationpc wrote:There's a conspiracy theory going around that the big explosion was caused by a missile strike. Yeah, let's just pretend a fertilizer plant would spill absolutely no flammable chemicals into the air that could cause a really huge explosion. Nah, couldn't be.

Release the Krak-pots!