Chemical fire

 Yikes

A large chemical fire has sent a dangerous cloud over Lake Charles, hours after the eye of Hurricane Laura passed directly over the city.

Gov. John Bel Edwards says the fire was burning Thursday morning just outside the city, and he’s advising storm survivors to shelter in place.

Edwards tweeted that people “in the Westlake/Moss Bluff/Sulphur area” should close their windows and doors and turn off their air conditioning units.

The National Hurricane Center says Laura remains a hurricane, sustaining top winds of 75 mph more than 170 miles after landfall.

Sounds comfy 

Update: Fire is coming from a facility called BioLab Inc

According to state permits, the facility can produce 115 million lbs. per year of trichloroisocyanuric acid and disodium isocyanurate. Trichloroisocyanuric acid is often produced in a white granulated or powder form and can have a heavy "chlorine" smell. When heated, the material can release toxic chlorine fumes and nitrogen oxides, according to PubChem, an open database from the National Institutes of Health.

The facility was categorized under federal standards as a major source of hazardous air pollutants.

Chlorine gas can cause blisters and a burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat. Nausea, vomiting, shortness of breathe and headache are symptoms of heavy exposure. The gas is also heavier than air and tends to linger along the ground.

The complex also has storage tanks the hold diesel fuel, another potential fuel source for the fire, permit records show.

 

 

All's well that ends well if you own a well

There were some 1400 oil wells in the path of Hurricane Laura's storm surge.  Plus multiple chemical pipelines. Plus the offshore rigs, plus the LNG terminals. What happens if all that stuff gets blowed up?  Well, there is precedent.

Hurricane Katrina struck a similar trove of coastal oil and gas infrastructure in 2005. A Category 3 storm, Katrina made landfall with less force than Laura but managed to damage an estimated 100 drilling platforms, 400 pipelines and caused about 540 spills in Louisiana waters. Added up, the spills likely released roughly 11 million gallons – the same amount as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.

Fifteen years later, no environmental damage assessments have been completed and no companies were fined.