LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — A fire at a Louisiana chlorine plant erupted with thick, billowing smoke Thursday after Hurricane Laura plowed through part of the country’s petrochemical corridor with storm surges and fierce wind, forcing residents around the plant to shelter in their homes.
The damage came three years to the month after the record rains of Hurricane Harvey inundated Houston’s refineries, storage tanks and chemical plants, unleashing dozens of toxic spills into surrounding communities’ air, land and water. State and federal aircraft were heading into the air over the battered Louisiana coast Thursday, looking for signs of any other industrial damage or releases from Laura.
In the Lake Charles area, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality workers with hand-held monitors did not immediately detect chlorine releases from the fire at the BioLab plant, agency spokesman Greg Langley said. The plant makes swimming pool chemicals.
Biolab的公司父母说，该工厂已被关闭并在暴风雨前撤离，没有植物雇员受伤。
当局命令大量工业化的查尔斯湖地区的植物周围的人们住在他们的家中，门和窗户关闭，当时大火在暴风雨后的第一次亮起后发现了大火。州运输部关闭了该地区的10号州际公路，转移了交通。
State police spokesman Nick Manale said hurricane winds of well over 100 mph (160 km/h) appeared to be a factor, although the cause remained under investigation. State police knew of no reports of injuries, including exposure to hazardous fumes.
The fire sent black smoke billowing high above an interstate overpass, dominating the skyline of the damaged city. Crews battled the still-smoldering fire into early evening. Downed trees, utility lines and other wreckage initially made reaching the fire difficult.
州警察,消防队员和其他紧急磨破kers responded, and an Environmental Protection Agency plane was monitoring overhead, Langley said.
Lynn Goldman, dean of the School of Public Health at George Washington University and a former assistant administrator for toxics at the EPA, called chlorine “dangerous stuff.”
Chlorine is quite damaging to the lungs and “you certainly don’t want to inhale that,” Goldman said.
Anne Rolfes in New Orleans, founder of an environmental group called The Bucket Brigades, said Louisiana requires comparatively little in terms of storm preparation, despite the state’s status as a top five oil and gas producer, and despite the frequent storms that lash the coast.
“In general, these facilities have a long history of not preparing. They cry ‘act of God’ but it’s failure to prepare time and again,” she said.
兰利说，州环境官员计划从空中调查整个风暴区，以寻找其他行业大火或泄漏的迹象。
兰利说：“我们将做天桥，在水上寻找光泽，我们能看到的任何小东西 - 孤儿鼓，类似的东西。”
Refineries and petrochemical plants also had crews headed out to check for damage, said Jeff Gunnulfsen, senior director of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers trade group.
Reports of leaks or other industrial problems can take days to emerge after severe weather, because many plants have evacuated and locked down their facilities, and roads and phone lines are iffy.
EPA spokeswoman Molly Block said the agency had been working with other governments and contractors before the storm hit to assess the storm security of 23 Superfund sites in Louisiana and 35 in Texas.
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Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City and McConnaughey from New Orleans. Cathy Bussewitz in New York and Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., contributed.
