Houston — Local emergency officials on Thursday reported two explosions at a flooded chemical plant in the Texas town of Crosby, its operators Arkema said. “At approximately 2am CDT [7am GMT], we were notified by the Harris County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of two explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema plant in Crosby, Texas,” the company said in a statement. As a precautionary measure officials had already ordered the evacuation of an area within 3km of the organic peroxides plant, which operators had said was at risk of exploding due to a “critical issue” triggered by monster storm Harvey’s torrential rains. The facility had been evacuated following a dangerous loss of on-site refrigeration. In its statement, the company said: “Unprecedented flooding overwhelmed our primary power and two sources of emergency backup power.” Richard Rowe, CEO of Arkema’s North America unit, had earlier told reporters that chemicals on the site would catch fire and explode if they w...
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