HOLY CRAP!!!  Tonight about 11 pm central time a 30" gas line near Nederland/Port Neches Texas exploded!!  

I was in a friend's garage when we heard a  really strong wing and a cracking noise like lightning, but we knew it wasn't storming.  Then the garage door made a sound like someone hit it with a bat while we heard the building roar of what sounded like a large jet bearing down on us.  Then BOOM!!! Talking pretty loud here.  We rushed outside to see a HUGE fire lighting up the sky.  I instantly thought, "Holy shit, a plant blew up," because that was always the big fear of what could happen down here; however, it wasn't anything nearly as catastrophic.  

What I saw and heard was from easily 5+ miles away, and was heard and felt to some degree over ALL the surrounding areas.  The fire burned large (70 plus feet EDIT: They are now reporting they could have been 150+!!) for less than 20 minutes before the fire department had it down, and I believe the fire and all the structures that got ignited are now out.  Amazingly the news is reporting no injuries.

[tinfoil hat mode]
All of this on the day where the .gov raised the "terror alert" and my friend saw two white Z-71s with guys in suits driving down the main street of this little town today. . .
[/tinfoil hat mode]

I'm extremely glad no one was hurt because I would most likely at least know someone that knew the person that died.  It's a pretty small community.

This should be interesting to see how it all pans out. . .

- Matt

Wow. Stay loaded up tonight and stay safe!

Matt,

I'm near Kountze and I don't think you're necessarily tin foil hatitizing.  There have been arrests of Arabs/Muslims staking out and casing Chemical Row.  Did you see anything on TV or "only" personally?

TS

I saw a short live news brief about one and a half to two hours after the explosion, but the fire was nearly out then.  That's wear the news told everyone it was a 30" gas line.  No one is even asking the question yet was it a terrorist on the new yet, but I can tell you everyone it thinking it.  Everything above I saw in person.  I have a feeling national news will be talking about it tomorow.

- Matt

I have no reason to doubt nor believe this report until it's confirmed elsewhere, but, I'm reminded of "Red Storm Rising" nonetheless.
IMHO

Here are some links from a local news channel.

[url]http://www.kfdm1.com/engine.pl?station=kfdm&id=1407&template=breakoutlocal.html[/url]

[url]http://www.kfdm1.com/engine.pl?station=kfdm&id=1408&template=breakoutlocal.html[/url]

- Matt

This thread title is just waiting for an Eric the Hun Joke/everything is bigger in texas/bbq baked bean joke.

How far are you from Arlen TX? Is Hank Hill okay? I bet Dale is just going crazy with conspiracy theories.




p.s. I only joke because as far as we know, there are no injuries. If there are, I will remove this. (Look at me being all PC, sensitive and shit)

I'm really suprized that none of the major news groups are covering this today.  Explosions like this don't happen down here any more.

There is a pretty good picture of the fire in this link.

[url]http://www.kfdm1.com/engine.pl?station=kfdm&id=1409&template=breakoutlocal.html[/url]

- Matt  

I thought we had more than a few southeast Texans around here.  Anyone else hear/see/feel this last night?

- Matt

Have you posted this in the Texas forum under Hometown forum? May find luck there. Jason

Well, Magnus357, looks like we're neighbors.  I live in Nederland.

One of my daughters lives in Port Neches and called me this morning to ask me if I had heard the explosion.  I told her I slept through it all.

Unless they attack my bedroom, I probably will sleep through it.

Anyone remember that HUGE natural natural gas explosion in the USSR?

The USSR had built this giant pipeline that transported gas from Siberia to Western Europe.  Anyway, one one the pump stations down the line reported a drop in pressure, so pump stations up the line began pumping more gas to compensate.

They never stopped to wonder WHY there was a drop in pressure.  There was a rupture in the pipeline, and it was leaking enormous volumes of gas.  It was also during winter, and in a natural depression, so the gas just pooled and pooled for god knows how long, creating a giant lake of natural gas.  Then a train running on a track that ran through the mass ignited all that natural gas, creating a gigantic catastrophic explosion.  I'll find the story and link it.....hmm cant find anything about it.

There has been no offical remarks about the cause so far, but accidents this large are a rarity.

We now know the explosion was from a pipe line, but I really have a hard time believing anything like this could occur from "natural causes."  My father currently works and has been working for years as a maintaince engineer for a local refinery, and his opinion has always been that saftey is one of the things the plants do best.  Everything has double and triple safties on top of being computer controlled.  Large amounts of money and man power are spent daily working on making sure things go the way they are suppost to.  Millions of dollars in product, and countless lives are at stake here.  If this was an accident someone or a bunch of someones are going to lose their jobs.

I am not going to speculate on exactly what happened yet, but I will say that I am [b]very[/b] suprized at the lack of national news coverage.  I would figure that the raising of the "Threat Level" coinciding with this explosion would draw out all of the Chicken Littles in the national media.

- Matt

Dude, natural gas is heavier than air; it rises and will not pool.  Propane sinks and pools; making it more dangerous.
HazMat 101 stuff.
Larry

Those  have got to be some REALLY talented pigs!  I left S. Texas last summer and I never ran into any welding farm animals.