It was like Iraq, a nuclear bomb, a tornado. Those were the words used by US officials to describe the devastation created by a blast at a fertiliser plant in Texas on Wednesday, which injured hundreds and killed an unknown number of others. Until the massive fireball tore through the evening air, the town of West was a typical Texas town of 2,800, proud of the Czech heritage of many of its early settlers.
It was small enough for everyone to know each other, and for the high school, middle school and a nursing home to be within walking distance of the West Fertiliser Plant. According to Sergeant W Patrick Swanton, a police spokesman, fire-fighters and law enforcement responded to a fire at the plant early Wednesday night. They quickly realised the severity of the threat facing them and the town and started an evacuation process.
"Perhaps 15 minutes later a massive explosion occurred," he told the hundreds of reporters who rushed to the small town from around the country. "It was a small fire and then water got sprayed on the ammonium nitrate, and it exploded just like the Oklahoma City bomb," Jason Shelton, a clerk at the Czech Best Western Hotel in West told the Dallas Morning News.
"I live about a thousand feet (300 metres) from it and it blew my screen door off and my back windows. There's houses levelled that were right next to it." Hours after the blast several fire-fighters and police were unaccounted for. Authorities confirmed there had been fatalities but would not say how many, as the situation remained fluid.
According to mayor Tommy Muska, the blast and the fire devastated houses and buildings within a five block radius. He said 50 to 80 homes had been flattened in the blast. Among the worst affected were a nursing home that was adjacent to the fertiliser plant, where 133 people were evacuated. A 50-unit apartment building appeared to have taken the brunt of the blast, its facade ripped off to reveal the building's wooden frame and the pulverised interior.
DL Wilson, the spokesman of the Texas Department of Public Safety, was shocked by what he saw Wednesday night in the town of Waco. "It was massive just like Iraq...there was an apartment complex that has about 50 units - it was like a skeleton standing there," he told reporters. Numerous buildings were on fire, including the nursing home, and the middle school.
Residents described the chaotic moments following the blast as hundreds of emergency personnel rushed on to the roads and local residents were trying to escape. Making matters worse was the threat that poison gas could be released by the blaze, causing severe burns or death. An emergency treatment centre set up on site to treat the wounded had to be moved for fear it would be overcome by fumes. Muska said residents were bracing for news of neighbours' deaths.
"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," he told CNN. "We're gonna search for everybody. We're gonna make sure everybody's accounted for. That's the most important thing right now." But despite the reputation of West as a tight-knit small community, recriminations were also being raised. "That whole side of town looks like a disaster," resident Bill Manolakis told the Dallas News. "Who in their right mind sticks a damn plant next to houses?"