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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrpKx3aIjA
(YouTube: zidyboby; explosion is featured at around 0:30)
SEVERAL PEOPLE have died, and over 100 have been injured, after a massive explosion at a fertiliser plant in Texas.
The plant at West, a in the east of the state close to Waco, exploded when a fire spread to its chemical stores at 7:50pm local time (1:50am Irish time).
Buildings several blocks away were damaged in the blast, and it is reported that residents of a nearby nursing home are among those who have been injured and trapped by rubble.
The explosion at the plant – which was based in the centre of the town, which has a population of about 2,800 – was so powerful that it registered as an earthquake of magnitude 2.1.
Dallas News reported that the plant was storage capacity for 54,000 pounds (24,500 kg) of anhydrous ammonia. By way of comparison, the 1995 bombing at Oklahoma City used 4,800 lbs of ammonium nitrate.
Firefighters are dealing with blazes at nearby buildings but are not being sent to the plant itself because of the presence of toxic materials in the air, and the possibility that other chemical stores at the plant could still explode.
The football field at a nearby high school had been converted to a triage centre to deal with the injured, but that too had to be evacuated because of its proximity to the burning plant and the airborne fumes. A grim mushroom cloud hung over the town as nightfall approached.
Town mayor Tommy Muska told the Waco Tribune that at around 5am Irish time, several firemen who were tackling the original fire at the plant are unaccounted for.
“We’ve got a lot of people who are hurt, and there’s a lot of people, I’m sure, who aren’t gonna be here tomorrow,” Muska told AP.
“We’re gonna search for everybody. We’re gonna make sure everybody’s accounted for. That’s the most important thing right now.”
Between 50 and 75 houses in the town have been damaged, and local authorities said buildings within four blocks of the plant were “totally decimated”.
Glenn Robinson, the chief executive of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Centre in nearby Waco, told CNN his hospital had received 66 injured people for treatment, including 38 who were seriously hurt.
He said the injuries included blast injuries, orthopaedic injuries, large wounds and a lot of lacerations and cuts. The hospital has set up a hotline for families of the victims to get information, he said.
Information was hard to come by in the hours after the blast, and entry into the town was slow as the roads were jammed with emergency vehicles rushing in to help. Texas governor Rick Perry said state officials were among those waiting for details about the extent of the damage.
Lucy Nashed, a spokesman for Perry’s office, said personnel from several agencies were en route to West or already there, including the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, the state’s emergency management department and an incident management team.
Also responding is the state’s top urban search and rescue team, the state health department and mobile medical units. The US Chemical Safety Board said it was deploying a large investigation team to West. American Red Cross crews from across Texas also headed to the scene.
Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said the group was working with emergency management officials in West to find a safe shelter for residents displaced from their homes.
More as it comes in; additional reporting by Associated Press
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There needs to be somewhere for the 80,000 workers to live if we’re bringing them in which then worsens the housing problem all over again so that’s not the solution. Affordable social housing is the only hope now plenty of people on good salary can’t get a mortgage no matter how hard they try. Stop selling council houses and houses previously acquired by the state they need to remain in state control should have never been sold off years ago.
@Paddy C: Did you bother to read the article, Paddy? Or did you just read 80,000 workers in the headline, and assume that they would all be new entrants from outside the state?
@N D K: careful now…
Down with this sort of thing…
@Paddy C: We need to build all of this, doesn’t matter how you move the ball around, those three cups can never fix it. Infrastructure now.
@Paddy C: that’s about the number of long-term unemployed.
So will our leisured classes be asked to get their asses out of bed in the mornings, to do a bit of work?
No government has ever tackled the dole-suckers, so is that going to change?
@N D K: You didn’t get the memo from Darwin? You know, the one about evolution…
@N D K: Yeah, lies.
@John Mulligan: I doubt it incentive isn’t there the more you work in this country worse off you are I’m paying a mortgage nearly 20 years havent had a holiday in that length either. Maybe 3 nights out a year at best I know plenty getting every allowance going plenty of holidays better cars less stress and financial pressure in the end I don’t blame them its not worth it no life this way and now no choice but to stay going. Hit the working man every time and those on low salaries are hung out to dry allowances taken away. People on carers allowance can even get heat allowance but if you’re on the dole you can sane with working family payment no heat allowance the benefits aren’t there working may aswel count the birds stress free lifestyle.
@Paddy C: people on carers allowance CAN’T get heat allowance which is very wrong and needs to change immediately. I see people struggling looking after the people they care for they need it badly.
@Paddy C: don’t know your particular circumstances, but 20 years and no holidays… Seriously? If you are an employee, you have a legal minimum of 20 days’ holiday per year. So none in 20 years is not the truth. Unless you’re self-employed, then that could explain.
And please, next time use more punctuation where needed in your paragraphs, it makes for better reading for everyone else.
@Jerry LeFrog: Are you seriously trying to lecture somebody on their punctuation? Perhaps you should ask a grown up to read through your comment with you and give you some informed feedback. Then ask them to explain the whole “throwing stones in glasshouses” thing.
@Jerry LeFrog: I bet he meant he had no holiday outside of the country and not no holiday from work.
@Paddy C: dole-suckers are looked after, to the extent that they can often be better off not working.
@Jerry LeFrog: holidays as in holiday abroad not days off never mind the punctuation it’s not an article just a response to one.
@Paddy C: a holiday in Ireland doesn’t count as a holiday?
@lesidees: 2 or 3 days down the country wouldn’t count no, but maybe you can enlighten us all any holiday you book abroad is generally 7 days +. That’s not the argument the argument is the benefits of working in a lot of cases don’t benefit social welfare,rent allowance,fuel allowance etc. The benefits left over after mortgage/high rent aren’t there nothing against anyone getting it hard to convince them otherwise that’s plain to see.
@Mike: you completely missed my point on holidays, but I won’t take offence. The main point here is that lots of people think they *have* to take a foreign holiday to feel they had time off work. “Ireland is too expensive”, “pottering around and enjoying your area is not a holiday”, etc.
As for the punctuation, I had to read twice to actually get his point. Not everyone is as perfect as “grown-up Mike”. Slight dyslexia doesn’t help me though.
@John Mulligan: thats a lie if ever I read one. Why don’t you live on the dole for three months and see how well you do.
@John Mulligan: bigot
@John Mulligan: Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt it!!
@Jerry LeFrog: I didn’t miss your point. I chose not to address it, as I believe you missed the original poster’s point and your opinion on is irrelevant. If you really have dyslexia, you should know better than to try putting people down over their writing skills. Shame on you.
We already have 80,000 men here,doing nothing,living in free modular housing,getting free money from the state,living the life of Riley,there called refugees,put them to work,at least soon of them economic migrants they said they want to work,now your chance lads,the government will say we need to bring 80,000 more workers into the country,there already here,where’s the planning for this to get done
@Billy Power: ffs, there is merit in tapping into that potential labour resource, but spouting dog whistle nonsense about refugees in Ireland is not the way to go about it
@Billy Power: Literally the point of least importance, you’re the reason theres nothing Billy, easily distracted by click bait.
@Billy Power: LIES.
@Billy Power: ask not what you can do for ireland but what ireland can do for you. Land of a thousand welcomes step over those homeless in the street and enter paradise just say can’t speak English can’t get job sorted can’t blame them it’s the system tick to the core.
@Billy Power: refugees are allowed and do work. Asylum seekers are not allowed work. Education is a good thing.
@Paul C: refugees do work, and are anxious to work and pay their way.
Unlike our home-grown dole-suckers.
@Paul C: Asylum seekers actually can legally work, once they receive a work permit. Perhaps you should try educating yourself next time before looking foolish again.
Don’t we have hundreds of thousands walking around every village and town in Ireland that came here in the last 2 years, but of course FFG will invite more
@N D K: no, we don’t
@N D K: they love a country road with no high vis as well
Could we repurpose the various asylum plantation barracks into housing for construction workers? Free accommodation for foreign construction workers, maybe add in some tax breaks.
@Freda Peeple: plantation!!! Where is the lol emoji when you need it?
Aren’t we building a children’s hospital…the best and most expensive in the world. Makes me proud that building…
The real problem is that there are way too many people in the world now , 8 billion . Far too many . 2 billion should be maximum number of humans . So many of those 8 billion people are quite simply the WRONG TYPE OF PEOPLE . So what’s needed now is a combination of events , natural disasters on an epic scale , famines , disease (incurable/untreatable would work best) , and war , real war that will kill MILLIONS , not these low level bits of wars that drag on and on and on and end up killing maybe a million if one is really lucky . Yes that’s what’s needed to get human population down to a manageable level .
@Jim Ryan: just vote for the fascist Green Party Jim and you will get what you want. Another decade of their policies should put us back 50 years and then the real fighting will start as there won’t be enough food to go around. The real Greens want a planet without Humans
@Jim Ryan: Totally agree, but capitalism needs the population growth to keep the machine running
@gregory pym: one of the most ridiculous statements of all times
Pretty damning how inept we are at building the things we need. We were once world renowned for our building prowess! But that was when we had a ‘boss’ to tell us what to do, we’re not able to be that boss is the problem, it’s like the kids have taken over and are just arguing about sweets. Nothing will be built here for for at least the next 30 years. it’s shameful.
I think most nations will be out on the Moon by the time we enter 21st century standards of transportation.
This report highlights just how deep Ireland’s infrastructure issues run—housing, healthcare, transport, and energy are all stretched thin. But adding 80,000 workers to tackle these deficits brings up a huge issue: where will these workers live, given our current housing crisis?
Unless we fix our planning system and prioritise value for money, it’ll be tough to attract and retain the workforce we need. Without real reform, we risk piling on short-term solutions instead of building a long-term plan that actually meets Ireland’s needs.
This report really hits home on the scale of Ireland’s infrastructure shortfalls—especially in housing, healthcare, transport, and electricity. The call for nearly 80,000 additional workers speaks volumes, but with our planning system as slow as it is, it’s clear we need a coordinated, multi-year strategy to make real progress.
Boosting productivity in construction would ease the pressure on workforce demand, but without bold reforms and smarter, value-focused spending, we’re at risk of just treading water. This isn’t just about more funding; it’s about sustainable investment that actually delivers on Ireland’s future
This is a report protecting the interests of the vested parties, like the CIF & Developers. There are enough workers but most leave as the abuses of workers by the Construction industry is well known, the bogus self employed contracts, not paying Apprentices or fulfilling their apprenticeship, bringing in labour on work permits from outside the EU countries & paying them cheap training rates. This is all about maximising the profits of the big players. If you want to know where we are in infrastructural builds, just look at the NCH, Oireachtas Bike Shelter & Security Hut, everybody must get their cut & the links between our Political Class & Developers/CIF is interwoven. Other countries can build infrastructure but crooked Ireland can’t, our Builders are building infrastructure elsewhere.
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