Mandatory evacuation ordered after second blast in Texas plant explosion, officials say

Everyone within four miles of the TPC Group plant near Beaumont, Texas, was being ordered to evacuate immediately after a second blast Wednesday afternoon.

Jefferson County ordered the evacuation effective shortly before 3:30 p.m., which includes the cities of Port Neches, Groves, Nederald and the northern part of Port Arthur, according to an official order posted on Facebook. Nursing homes, hospitals and plants are exempt from the order, officials said.

Three injuries have been reported, all of them staff at the Port Neches refinery site in East Texas, company officials said.

The second “explosion” at the plant was a column falling over at the plant, according to Jefferson County Emergency Management.

That explosion “sent more flames and smoke billowing into the sky,” KBMT reported.

The plant continued burning overnight and into the morning hours of Thanksgiving Day, the Beaumont Enterprise reported.

“We’re still just trying to maintain the structures that are currently burning,” Mike White, the Jefferson County emergency management coordinator, told the newspaper.

TPC Group is working with state and local agencies to test air quality in the area, according a website set up for the response.

“The real-time air monitoring results continue to show no actionable levels above state and federal regulatory guidelines,” officials said.

About an hour after the first explosion, the Nederland Volunteer Fire Department called for ”a mandatory evacuation for everyone within a half mile mile of the TPC plant.”

“This could change and expand to a greater area,” the department posted.

In Groves, south of the plant, the fire department warned the entire town to “shelter in place.”

While the smoke plume — which was “coming from unprocessed crude oil” — was initially directed toward Groves, officials say it has since shifted away thanks to wind directions which are expected to maintain until late Wednesday morning.

People in Port Arthur north of Highway 73 have been warned to shelter in place, the city said in a Facebook post. Magnolia Avenue, or Highway 366, between Nall Avenue and Spur 136 has been shut down.

“The event is on going, but will be brought under control as quickly and safely as possible,” TPC officials said in a statement early Wednesday.

Teams have been sent to the facility’s fence line and surrounding neighborhoods to test air quality, officials said.

“Right now our focus is on protecting the safety of responders and the public, and minimizing any impact to the environment.”

The plant has been evacuated and all staff have been accounted for, officials said.

Alica Wolfford Almaraz, who says she lives in Groves, posted photos on Facebook of the fire and reported “select neighborhoods” were being evacuated.

“There was a LOUD boom and huge fire,” she wrote. “Lots of reports of blown out windows and house damages....lots of freaked out people. Please keep all emergency workers and plant workers in your prayers as they deal with the aftermath.”

Tyler Shawn Dunlap says he was asleep when the explosion rattled his home.

“I heard and felt my house shake,” he told WTKR. “I first thought people were coming to break in [because] of our intense security so I was scared calling 911.”

Others characterized the blast as sounding “like a nuke,” according to the news outlet.

The plant is 300 miles southeast of Fort Worth, near the Louisiana border.

This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 6:36 AM.