Recent plant explosions in Houston and other southeast Texas communities are raising new concerns about the area’s schools, dozens of which were built in the shadows of the region’s thriving petrochemical industry
3 of 5 Southeast Texas Students at Risk from Plant Explosions
Because southeast Texas is home to hundreds of petrochemical plants and storage facilities, it is considered a “Multiple Vulnerability Zone” – one of the most high-risk areas of the country. In fact, according to ABC 12News, three out of five students in southeast Texas currently faces a risk from chemical leaks, gas cloud releases, and industrial explosions.
Jefferson County has 89 schools located in a “vulnerability zone,” the third highest in Texas.
Fortunately, all of those schools were closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday when a massive explosion erupted at the TPC plant in Port Neches shortly after 1:00 a.m. on November 27, 2019. The initial blast triggered a fire that would burn for the next several hours and was followed by another big explosion later that afternoon.
3 Schools Damaged During TPC Port Neches Explosion
Three schools — Port Neches Middle School, Port Neches Elementary School, and Port Neches Groves High School – are located within a mile of the blast site and all sustained damage, including blown out windows and doors that were knocked of their hinges. But the outcome could have been so much worse had the disaster struck while classes were in session.
“I don’t even want to think about what might have happened,” the grandfather of one Port Neches Middle School student told ABC 12News. “Those kids could have been in a real bind.”
Watson Grinding Explosion Closed Northwest Houston Schools
Unfortunately, Port Neches wasn’t the only Texas community to see its schools endangered by an industrial explosion during the past year. Just last month, in fact, a deadly explosion at Watson Grinding & Manufacturing led to temporary evacuations and school closures in the surrounding northwest Houston neighborhoods.
Zehl & Associates is representing the family of two children, ages 3 and 7, who were seriously hurt when their home was damaged and their ceilings collapsed on them while sleeping.
Schools in more than a half dozen districts — Deer Park, La Porte, Channelview, Galena Park, Sheldon, Goose Creek and Pasadena – were also forced to close last May after an explosion at the ITC petrochemical plant outside Houston set off a toxic tank fire that continued to burn for days.
No Special Codes for Schools Built Near Chemical Plants
A great deal of research has focused on making schools near petrochemical plants safer. But so far, none of the proposed solutions have proven realistic.
“There is no such thing as a blast proof barrier,” one structural engineer told ABC 12-News.
“There are no codes that I know of that dictate a different type of construction because of proximity to industry,” he continued. “The way you do this design is to make sure the structure would resist the load and take that energy and dissipate it as quickly as possible.”
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