UK ITV are reporting several explosions at the New Orleans Chemical Plant.

Any more word on this? I can't find the slightest mentin even on Nola.

I couldnt find anything either

This is happening on CNN now.

SKynews TV are also now reporting it,

There is said to be Gas stations and such possible there that may have been damamged by the Storm,

They are also saying fires in the downtown area.

Latest update by Chris Lawrence CNN

They can see orange glow by railway track, they believe a railroad car caught fire. Big boom - you can see the sky orange and it stands out as the city is dark. Smoke is pouring out, worried the fumes could be toxic. The cloud is starting to spill over the city. What exactly exploded, what is in the cloud?

I find it hard to believe that gas stations randomly 'exploded' several days afte the initial destruction. Unless there has been a possible build up of natural gas, but still...

Still nothing online at either CNN or MSNBC.

Sim...if it is railway cars loaded with chemicals to ship, it could be anything in the world. Possibly something that begins to out-gass when it comes in contact with water.

CNN still intermittantly reporting that what appears (from a distance) to be a railroad car has exploded. It is sending smoke over the city and is still casting an eerie orange glow. Haz Mat has been sent since there is some reason to think the fumes are toxic. Wonder if this was a deliberate explosion or a natural one? In crazy times like, all things seem possible. I suspect, when dawn comes, we'll get some video. It's almost impossible to shoot video at night under the current circumstances in New Orleans.
God help us.
joey

Originally posted by Valhall
Sim...if it is railway cars loaded with chemicals to ship, it could be anything in the world. Possibly something that begins to out-gass when it comes in contact with water.

I was thinking about this, but if a chemical were to react violently with the flood waters, it seems to me as if it would have happened at least within the first 24 hours of the devastation, not days after. I mean something had to trigger this rupture in the rail car.

fox news reported a big explosion earlier in the french qtr area but had no further details, also said the glow had subsided from his (reporter on ramp near Superdome) viewpoint.

This is probably from the same incident no other details were available at the time.

Originally posted by Simulacra

Originally posted by Valhall
Sim...if it is railway cars loaded with chemicals to ship, it could be anything in the world. Possibly something that begins to out-gass when it comes in contact with water.

I was thinking about this, but if a chemical were to react violently with the flood waters, it seems to me as if it would have happened at least within the first 24 hours of the devastation, not days after. I mean something had to trigger this rupture in the rail car.

Not necessarily. If you've got a volatile chemical it's going to be packaged accordingly. This may be a matter of a couple of things.

1. Time - the water may have been soaking through packaging all this time and just finally met the chemical last night.
2. There may have been a chemical reaction taking place that was outgassing all this time but eventually the container (be it a single drum or an entire railcar) finally got over-pressured from the continuous out-gassing and blew up.

Conflicting reports according to the makeup of aforementioned chemicals.

National Guard saying its an unknown substance but some are saying its an oil by-product.

Oh my gosh...this is bad.

What the hell is going on over there? I mean this is just one city, what if a disaster of this magnitude occured in 2-3 states? We would be incapable of handling it.

And that picture Vallhall, Jesus...What is that?

It's coming off the railway area. I'm hoping the "yellowish" color is from flames reflecting off the smoke. I'm hoping the smoke itself isn't yellowish. Because if the smoke is yellow, that's got sulfur content. I hope we're not looking at something that could contain H2S - sour gas.

I'm hoping a lot at this point. I keep hoping. My hoper's getting sore.

[edit on 9-2-2005 by Valhall]

Originally posted by Valhall
I'm hoping a lot at this point. I keep hoping. My hoper's getting sore.

Rub some dirt on it. That seems to help in any sport.

AL Quaida, I mean US Special Forces (jk).

Maybe the Army got sick of the lawlessness and decided to drop a 500 pound bomb to scare the crap out of the mogadishu gangs that are running around everywhere terrorizing.