>> if you could just standby with me one more moment. we're just going to reset at 1:00. this is "piers morgan live." it's 1:00 a.m. on the east coast. >> breaking news tonight, a massive explosion in a small town of west 20 peoples east of waco. it's prompted a wide-scale evacuation. there's 2,500 people. 10-15, a lot more buildings have been demolished. this is a stunning video from www wkwkt at the moment of the explosion.

>> as we said, we believe three people are dead. the ceo of the providence health centerer, it's clearly a major disaster. when did you first hear about this? and how quickly were you receiving patient sns. >> actually, we heard about this shortly after 8:00 p.m. we actually heard about this, being 25 miles from the incident itself, to mobilize our doctors, our respiratory therapists and be prepared for this disaster. >> the nature of the injuries are minor cuts and some have severe burns. many are critical.

>> what is the nature of the injuries? >> very serious injuries. most of the patients are minor injuries, just like you've described here. the patients have cuts and abrasions, a few with broken bones. several of them in respiratory distress from chemical inhalation. but mostly minor to moderate at this point. >> and of those on the way, are you expecting more of that? >> it's very unclear at this point. we are going to be prepared throughout the night to take on more casualties. but we're unclear as to the extent of any additional people that will be coming to our organization. >> there was a field triage station set up at a football field near the plant. but they had to move away from that because of the fears of this second explosion, possibly, at a second fertilizer tank.

-- brett, i'm sorry. i'm going to have to leave you briefly. we're going straight to a press conference which is in west texas. >> all the gas tanks where the explosion happens are turned off. we do not need anymore help. the fire fighters and ems people are coming from hundreds of miles away to help us. right now, we are overflowing with help and we do not need anymore help as far as that goes. tomorrow morning, the mayor is going to speak again. right now, we have a tremendous amount of injuries. probably over a hundred injuries at this time. we do have confirmed fatalities. the number is not current yet. it could go up by the minute. we're in there searching the area right now and making sure it's safe for other people that are around there and the firefighters are trying to be safe and go back in.

there's a lot of wind blowing and little, small flames and they don't want to get the firefighters hurt or injured inside the blast area. i can tell you, i was there. i walked through the blast area. i searched some houses tonight. massive. just like arack. just like the murray building in oklahoma city. i know there was at least 50-75 houses damaged. there's an apartment complex that has about 50 units in it that was completely just skeleton standing up. there's a nursing home there that 133 people in the nursing home. we've had numerous agencies helping us all the way from the dallas ft. worth area and all

the surrounding areas. so we've had a great turn out. i wish i could give you more information. all the injures right now are being taken care of. we're going to go back in and do another house-to-house search and see if anybody else, the victims, are in the houses. that's going to be going on all night. so we have a command post set up for the law enforcement and a triage set upright here across the interstate from us. >> what's the status of the plant? >> it's still smoldering. right now, they didn't give us any update on it. but it was smoldering, still, and there still is active, you know, other ingredients there on the facility. so where he do not want that to

explode again. we're not worried about property right now. our main goal right now is to get people safe. >> do you have a rough number of lives that were lost? >> i do not know right now. it's going to be a number, you know. i can't give you a number right now, but there's going to be a number. i cannot confirm or deny that. i wish i could tell you something, but i do not have that number. >> is this fire under control? >> the firefighters are not fighting the fire right now. they're in the area, but they cannot get close to it because of the toxic fumes that are coming off of it right now. >> is there a danger of fumes outside the plant? >> there is. i think they've cleared the area. they've moved people back even further. so half of that town is totally, totally evacuated. what we're worried about now is

when the north -- we're supposed to have a northern come in tonight. so we may have to evacuate the other side of town. >> guys, i'm going to have to stop you there. let us get some more information. once we get that, we'll come back out and give you what we can. >> complete destruction. the fire is under control, but smoldering. a 50-apartment complex building is decimated. and at least 50-60 homes may have been devastated. his house shook from the force of the blast. mr. smith, quite extraordinary that you should be so far away. but you felt the aftershock of this explosion? >> yes, we didn't know exactly what it was. there was a forecast of

thunderstorms coming through tonight. and we looked up and said it got here six or eight hours early. it didn't quite sound like thunder. but it did, it shook the house. it made the windows rattle. it got our attention. >> where are you in texas? >> i'm about 50 miles north of west. >> and we hear that the winds had been very strong all night. and this has been one of the problems facing firefighters. in fact, they fear if the north wind changes, they may not get back in to deal with the fire. does it feel very windy to you? even where you are? >>. >> yes, the winds are blowing pretty good out there. now we're hearing that the fumes may be toxic.

so we're a little concerned about that up here. >> well, that must be a concern to anybody in west because we know that these ammonia fumes they are poisonous. i assume with these strong winds coming in that they can travel a long distance. >> that would be my assumption, yes. >> it's a horrible thing to happen to a small town in texas. do you know west yourself? >> i've been through west several times. i have some friends who have family there. they're concerned about their family. it is a wonderful little town. and i can't believe we actually felt it 50 miles away. >> absolutely extraordinary. we've heard the public safety officer. he was talking about it, the explosion, being just like a rock, just like the oklahoma

city billing. we're hearing it all the time, but it's likely to be very, very csignifican significant, indeed. >> there are some very, very bad reports on the stations right now. i'm hoping that those are wrong. >> it's an awful situation. thank you very much, indeed, for joining me. >> well, thank you, sir. >> i want to go back to the ceo of providence health center. you can feel the aftershock 50 miles away. does that surprise you? >> yes, i'm surprise today hear that myself. >> and in terms of the press conference there with mr. wilson from the department of public safety, clearly fearing that there's going be a very significant death toll here, i'm talking about very large numbers of injuries. i would imagine that you guys could be busy throughout the night at this rate? >> yeah, it appears that we're

going to be very busy throughout the night. we just had a little bit to our surprise, a bus show up with about 20 patients on the bus that we're unloading as we speak and triaging them right at this poemt. moment. so we're not sure of all of the conditions of those patients that arrived. it appears to be a very busy night. >> i won't keep you any longer. thank you so much for the time to bring us up to date on what's happening where you are. and best of look in dealing with this very serious situation. >> thank you very much. scores of people injured and we believe and fear also killed: we'll be back after this break with more updates. ech ] [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one,

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>> at least 10-15 buildings, have been totally demolished. after an explosion in west texas about 20 miles from waco. >> this stunning video at the moment of the explosion from kwkt. >> evacuations are under way right now with fear of a potential explosion from a second plant there. clearly, a very serious situation and concerns from local enforcers there, enforcement officers, the death toll could rise significantly. over 30 departments from a a two-county area are assisting hazmat in the area. mr. robinson, i know that you eve been receiving more people since we've last spoke.

how many patients have you been treating? >> our triage team has just informed me that we are now seeing slightly more than a hundred patients this evening. if there's any good news to be found in that, it's that the majority of those are people with more minor injuries and find folks who have major lacerations and those sorts of things that we've been able to help out. thirdly, we've estimated 16, the number could change, but we're looking at 16 of those folks that we know are going to be staying with us overnight. some have withbeen treated and released. some will be treated before daybreak and will be able to be released. our team here with nurses are staying in their off-duty hours, we have been able to process patients as they come through this evening in a very timely

way. i could not be more proud of our team. they have taken a number of patients. we've also been able to send a number of pediatric patients that needed a higher level of pediatric care. and the triage team on the ground, up at west, what a phenomenal job they've done. they were able to get patients over to our regional burn center. so i've been told several burn patients were sent there. providence hospital here in waco have helped -- that team has been a tremendous help. and the last number i've heard, they've treated more than 20 patients. >> and, finally, mr. robinson, it's the real fear here.

we had the press conference earlier, perhaps as many as 20 people have been trapped in their homes. is the real concern that there may be many either trapped, severely injured or possibly fatally injured. >> well shlgs that's certainly the condition for us. we're focusing mainly on what they've taken care of. we have been noted that we will continue to see other patients throughout the evening. most of those will be seen hopefully on more minor injuries for those kinds of things.

i will want to pass along there is a number for viewers who have a loved one concern. we have set up a line here. i have a number which they can call is 254-202-1100. that's 254-2 o 02-1100. we have staff members manning those phones. we will try to get information confirmed whether we have their loved ones here and be able to provide real tefs, next of kin about their loved one's conditions and give them updates. >> an unusually busy night ahead of you. continue in good luck in dealing with a very serious and traumatic situation. >> well, thank you very much. appreciate all of the help in

getting the word this evening as well. >> just a reminder, 254-202-1100 if you need to get any information. ben, understand, you've got some information for me about what may be happening down in west. there's obviously an extended evacuation due to bad weather in that area. there's so many people outside right now that are home, they have no connection with the outside world because of the lack of power that is there. the devastation, piers, that i've seen in the pictures from people that are in the area, it's not so much about the fires as it was the blunt trauma of the force of the explosion. you look at the apartment

building that was hit, for example. there was obviously a lot of people inside that building with this blast. and it was turned to virtually rubble without there being a single spark. the cars, we're seeing so many people injured in their vehicles driving around that area not even getting to see the flames from the fertilizer. but when the explosion happened, all of their windows were blown out of their car. getting people informed because everyone on the outside looking in, we see the video, we're hearing about the weather. the people at ground zero of this lab don't have that luxury right now. we've also just been told that they are about to go back, door-to-door, looking for people inside this blast zone because

they've not, unfortunately, been able to do, as they call, a thor reenough job. they want to go back in there but they're also concerned about a possible second explosion. they're concerned about the changing wind. and the toxic air that can be around this area from these fertilizers. >> unfortunately, that number is beginning to rise. the hospitals have done an amazing job with all of the people coming in. we are seeing how bad these injuries are as, now, apparently, we're flying people into dallas, into the main

trauma center to the main hospital where j.f.k. was taken when she was shot in dallas. that is 90 miles away from this blast site. that's what people are dealing with, this intense drama. >> just to give you an idea, ben, just getting word now, the u.s. geological survey regist registered a 2.1 mag any tuds sizable event on the richter scale at 8:50 p.m. eastern. the event registered at several nearby stations. even though the explosion was approximately 25 miles away, so that gives you some idea of the sheer ver osty of this explosion. absolutely. there was people where people started calling local authorities saying did we just have an earthquake? so if you look at the video, you

can come out from people that have the reporting. you can see that shock wave coming out. they asked all of the people that were filming from these helicopters, probably about 45 people now had to leave that area because they were afraid if there was a second explosion, that would make for unstable air and that those helicopters would not only be safe, but it would put other people's lives in danger on the ground, as well. so they've had this no-fly zone around this area. we also know that apparently o two, if what in what's being referred to as two ambulance busses. they're on their way there. apparently, one has just arrived. so they can take 20 patients at one time. and then, at the same time, transport them to whichever hospital they need to go to. on top of this nursing home that was so close, they took a huge, blunt hit from this explosion with more than a hundred elderly people there.

>> there were over 133 people evacuated from the nursing home. there were 50 units in the apartment, all of which had been totalled. another 50-75 homes very badly damaged. clearly, i think the full scale of this will emerge over the next few hours. ben ferguson, thank you very much for joining me. back on the phone now, a reporter from kxan. clearly, since we spoke, the situation is worsening. we've got a very grim update there from the public health officials. basically, implying that they need to go back in there and just work out how bad this is. >> yeah, i'm getting an e-mail and also updates from some of the crews that we have on the scene. and it sounds like that the press, the media, was taken to an auction barn because they are

working on opening up the evacuation route to get people out of there. i know that the epa is sending out on their monitor and on the toxic fumes, they're monitoring the situation. i'm not sure what they've reported yet as far as how dangerous it is to be breathing in the west area right now. but they certainly are monitoring the situation and they're trying to get as many people out of there as they can right now. that's what it sounds like. >> yeah, they made it clear that their priority is people, not property. the real worry being this north wind that's coming in later, which may stop them being able to work on the fire, which could, of course, increase the chances of a second explosion there. but we'll just have to wait and see how that all plays out. the concern right now is that we get these people out of there and to find those who are badly hurt and may be lying in the rubble. thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you. >> that's where we'll leave you tonight.

it's been a devastating incident in texas. the coverage will continue on cnn international. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all? it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide,

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cisco. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> texas emergency, a giant explosion levels a fertilizer plant in west texas, at least three are confirmed dead. but authorities fear that number will rise. >> and a break in the case. investigators circulate photos of two men who could be suspects in the boston bombings. >> hello, and welcome to world report. i'm rose mary church. >> and i'm john boyles. this is cnn's major coverage of two major stories from the united states. we begin with breaking news, a fire and a huge explosion at a fertilizer plant in texas.

residents are being evacuated from a town in west. and there are fears that a second large, fertilizer tank may explode. there are at least three confirmed fatalities. but authorities say that number could go much higher. we'd like to take a moment to show you this video that was posted on kwkt.com. it appears to be what looks to be a secondary explosion after the initial fire. >> the blast sent huge flames and a plume of smoke into the air. the u.s. geological survey says the blast measured 2.1. >> we do have confirmed fatalities.

we're making sure that it's safe for the people around there and the firefighters are trying to be safe and go back in. a lot of the wind blowing, changing the area, the an hydrous is still smoking and there's little, small flames and they don't want to get the firefighters hurt or injured inside the blast area. i can tell you, i was there. i searched some houses earlier tonight. massive. just like iraq. just like the murray building in oklahoma city. same kind of an hydrous exploded. so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking at there. >> i know there was at least 50-75 houses damaged. there's an apartment complex that has about 50 units in it that was just completely skeletons standing up. there's a nursing home in the area with 133 people in the nursing home. we've got them evacuated. i don't know what injuries are there right now, but all

injuries have been removed from the scene and taken to local hospitals in the waco area. we have numerous agencies helping us all the way from the dallas, ft. worth area, limestone, bosky and all of the surrounding areas. so we've had a great turnout to come out to help us get through this tragedy that we've had in this small community. i wish i koumd give you more information. all of the injured right now have been taken care of. we're going to go back in and do another house-by-house search and see if anybody else, the victims, are in the houses. that's going to be going on all night. so we have a command post set up for the law enforcement. we have a command post set up for the emergency units, also. and we still have a triage center set up at the community center right over here across center state from us. >> what's the status of the plan? >> it's still smoldering. right now, they did not give us any update on it. but it was smoldering, still. and there still is active, you

know, other ingredients there on the facility. we don't want that to explode again. right now, question cannot get firefighters in there. right now, we're not worried about property. we want people safe. that's our main goal. >> and just to confirm, what d.l. wilson, the department of public safety spokesperson was saying there, emergency officials now believe that 60-80 homes and apartments have been levelled. rescue workers have been unable to get anywhere close to the plant because that fire is still burning and releasing toxic chemicals into the air. >> the west fertilizer plant is about 15 miles west of waco. west texas is home of about 2600 people.

the city's mayor is a member of the all-volunteer fire department, as well. he spoke with andrews just a short time ago. >> i was about two blocks away when it exploded. >> we're getting conflicted reports, but it would seem that a very large number of properties, of homes, have been completely collapsing. >> we've got about a five-block radius of the fertilizer plant. >> how many homes do you think have been flattened in this? >> oh, 60, 70, 80? >> and these are private homes with residents? >> yes, private residence homes. one school, one nursing home, one apartment. >> and do you expect that there will be many people who have died in these homes? >> obviously, there was a devastation.

so there's going to be casualties. i just don't know a number. and there's a number of injuries and they've all been taken to waco hospital. and so we've got that under control now. we're just going through house-by-house search and rescue. okay? >> and finally, where were you when the explosion happened? >> i'm a member of the fire department, as well. so i was just going to the fire. i was about two, tleed and a half blocks away. >> what was the feeling that you had? >> i didn't expect an explosion like that. >> pierce morgan there with the mayor. now, firefighters in west texas are concerned about a gas called an hydrous ammonia. now, that is a fertilizer. the centers for disease control and prevention has listed it as a pungent gas with suffocating fumes. it's made up of nitrogen and

hydrogen. when exposed to humans, it can cause breathing dpif cu ining d earation of the eyes, nose or throat, exposure in high concentrations can lead to death that. of course, is the big concern here. when it's released in the air, the vapors initially move close to the ground, causing a greatest risk for exposure. >> that takes a states policeman spoke to the media after returning from the area close to the blast. he described a scene of wide devastation. >> i can tell you, i was there. i searched through the scene, i was in some houses tonight. devastating. massive. just like iraq. just like the murray building in oklahoma city. same kind of an hydrous exploded. you can imagine the damage we're look ag t. i know there was at least 50-75 houses damaged. there's an apartment complex that has about 50 units in it

that was complete ly just skeletons standing up. there's a nursing home that 133 people in the nursing home. we've got them evacuated. i don't know what their injuries are there right now. but all injuries have been removed from the season and taken to local hospitals in the waco area. >> now, a little earlier, we talked about some of the concerns for people on the ground there. some of the medical concerns. let's take a listen now to dr. sanjay gupta who was talking about this a little bit earlier. >> you think about very combustible chemicals like amoan ya nitrate. this is always a concern. besides the blast injury itself, which sounds like it was pretty significant, someone a couple miles away felt the impact of this.

>> also, this chemical itself, i think one of the people said that the guards are wearing respirators. >> yeah, that would not surprise me just because the air in that area is probably going to quickly become of concern when we have these sorts of chemic s chemicals, both explosive and now being released in the area in great quantities. so we've seen this in the past. frankly, with regard to what's happening in boston, with those same sorts of injuries, you have to be concerned about here, as well. >> fertilizer is used in explosive devices. you can understand why it's so flammable. >> yeah , we talked about ammona nitrate. one of its primary uses is exploezive. >> we're talking a little bit about where it's located. we're talking one mile away, two

miles away and windows blown out. there was a rural area, but there was an apartment complex, a school and a nursing home. would it be unusual to be located near a nursing home? apartment complex? >> yeah, that's a fair question. but i can tell you one thing besides the obvious sort of physical damage to the nursing home, the air quality in there. this is of small concern. i imagine in addition to trying to rescue people in that nursing home, the rescue workers, themselves, my guess is they're going to have to be fully protected and quickly try and get, you know, cleenl air, ox jenl, to the people who are potentially maybe trapped, i heard, i recallier in that nursing home. >> sanjay gupta there. we have some information that we can confirm right there. half of the tounl remains still evacuated. we are expecting storms to sweep through the area in the coming hours. there's still no firm numbers, as of yet, on the number of

fatalities, although there are confirmed fatalities. there are a tremendous amount of numbers of those injured, probably over 100 and between 50-75 houses have been damaged. we will take a short break here on cnn. but just ahead, we'll have more on the boston terror probe, law enforcement official says photos are now circulating of two men who authorities would like to talk to. @@úú this is so so soft.

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viewerings from across the globe join us as we give you breaking news on an explosion in west texas. so far, we hear from authorities they are not willing to give out a death toll number at all at this point. we will not expect to hear that for some hours. earlier, we had confirmed numbers of three. but local television there has stated that number is as high as 60-70 dead. we do not know at this time, and authorities do not want any speculation on this matter. we know about a hundred people have been injured. we're looking at a triage center that has been set up. there had been one set up on a football field. it had to be moved. peemd are being evacuated from the town of the west at this point. homes are demolished. we understand about 50-75 homes,

a nursing home, a school has been affected. at this point, they are hoping to go house to house -- this is a residential area around this fert liezer plant. so there is much concern about the impact of this blast. so we'll continue to watch that story. >> and, rose mary, more than 30 departments from two different counties are assisting in the hazmatt and fire fighting efforts. joining me now is a spokesman for the waco police department. waco texas is about 18 miles north of where this explosion happened in west texas. sergeant, thank you for being with us. my first question, a lot of concern about the number of fatalities and the number of people who have died. is there any update on that? >> yeah, i can tell you, at this point, we have confirmed fatalities. we are not giving out a number. there have been lots of estimates and guesstimations on numbers. but we are not doing that short of saying we have hundreds that have been injured in the

explosion here that occurred in west. we do know that there are fatalities. but at this point, we don't have a hard count on the number of fatalities that have occurred. >> one of the concerns, clearly, is the toxic fumes k4 is coming from -- which are coming from the fire. and there is some concern that there will be further evacuations of west, which i understand about half the town has been evacwatsed? >> that's correct. at this point, i can tell you the fire department from west responded at the fertilizer plant. they understand the significance in what they were fighting and what the potential danger was there. they started evacuating about 7:00 p.m., our time, there was a major explosion at the fertilizer plant. we know that there are firefighters that were there

that at the last check had not been accounted for, that in the process, they were in a nursing home in the immediate neighborhood as well as several residential homes and a 50-unit apartment complex. i can tell you that the nursing home has sustained heavy damage. the 50-unit apartment complex has also sustained severe to heavy damage. and approximately 50-75 houses have been damaged. west is a relatively small city. general population of roughly around 2800. they have helped numerous law enforcement agencies from in and around the counties, surrounding counties. plenty of medical help has responded, as well. at this point, they are in the

process of continuing to get to the wounded and get them to medical assistance. at some point, unfortunately, this will turn into a recovery and our numbers will go up as far as fatalities. >> so was i correct in hearing you that firefighters may be among those who have been injured? >> that's correct. >> do we have a number on that at this stage? >> we do not. we are still in the process of trying to account for everybody. obviously, something of this magnitude has many, many people injured. we don't know who's been taken to the hospital. we're still trying to count folks and see where everybody is. we know who all is on scene. at this point, they're trying to determine where everybody is located. >> at this point in time, sir, what is the most pressing issue? what needs to be dealt with right now? what is the biggest threat at this point in time? >> oov sli, there was earlier

concern that there was a continuing fire at the plant under an an nigh hie drous ammonia tank. that fire has been somewhat controlled. of ev obviously, they will need to reevaluate win direction, wind speed and make sure there are no toxic fumes. to make this situation worse, we are experiencing some very heavy south winds due to an approaching front that's coming into our area. at some point this morning, winds are going to shift around from the north and there will be a totally opposite direction than what they are now. however, our emergency management people are here, our firefighters from all of the sources are here and we planning for that trying to make sure we've got as many people out of harm's way as we can. at this point, we're just asking for prayers for the town of west

and everybody is doing the best they can to keep everybody safe. >> and right now, there is no electricity? power has been cut? >> that's correct. they have cut the gas lines to the downtown area. power is cut off to some areas. i don't know how widespread that is. that's certainly something that our utility companies are working with us onto make sure we don't have secondary explosions from ruptured gas lineses, ruptured gas meters in some of the businesses that were damaged, things along those lines. >> we appreciate you taking the time to speak with us and bringing us up to date on the very latest on the situation there. thank you. >> we want to go to ken sorey who is the commune city editor of the waco tribune herald. sir, what are you able to tell us about this tragedy hilting the small town of west in texas?

>> i think the officer did a pretty good job of describing that. it's a tragic situation and, as officer swanton said, it does seem at some point it's going to be a recovery effort. at this point, they don't know. and the area has to be safe, first, for them to go into. >>. well, it's not slapping in the middle of the residential area. it's right in the middle of town. but there is a residential area that is not too far from it. i know it's been there for a number of years, and it's probab

probably been closer to it since then. >> so what do you noi about the history of this plant? >> honestly, i couldn't say that i know much history about it at all? >> right. >> u be it doesn't have any -- >> i've been there one time on a different story. it wasn't related to the plant at all. i just know it's there and, you know, i don't know what kind of procedures are in place and what happened later in the day. so i almost think there would have been a minimal crew if any there at that point. >> now, earlier, lee kal television -- sir, earlier there, local television was reporting fatalities 60-70, perhaps, a very high numbers. we were getting confirmed numbers of three. and authorities there don't really want to put a number on this point. and we don't want to go down the

road of speculation on this, either. but why did local television go that high so early in this reporting. . >> you know, i think they probably spoke with someone and someone was just giving a guess. and why they were guessing that number, you know, i couldn't say. i don't think they really had anything to base that number on unless they were looking at one of the damaged areas, unless they assumed there was an apartment complex that was heavily damaged and there was a nursing home not terribly far away. i'm thinking someone just extrapolated numbers. i'm not sure where those came up with. >> yes, just repeating, we have no idea at this point on those fatality numbers. and authorities wanting people to steer clear on any suggestions on any particular number. ken sorey there, many thanks to you for joining us. >> coming um here on world

report, we'll have more on that texas blast and the aftermath and the rescue efforts which continued at this hour. @@ morning, brian! love your passat! um. listen, gary. i bought the last one. nice try. says right here you can get one for $199 a month. you can't believe the lame-stream media, gary. they're all gone. maybe i'll get one. [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. you can't have the same car as me, gary! i'm gettin' one. nope! [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and there's no better time to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease one of four volkswagen models for under $200 a month. visit vwdealer.com today. redesigned site has this new score planner tool with these cool sliders. this one lets us know what happens if we miss a payment. oh. this one lets us know what happens if we use less credit. yeah. what's this one do? i dunno. speaking mongolian.

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xxpp@@ that was the explosion a few hours ago in the small town of west texas is our breaking news. at least two people are confirmed dead after that explosion. possibly many more after a fire and explosion at a fertilizer plant. it happened in the small town of the west texas, near waco. the entire area has been evacwalted. dozens of homes in a nearby apartment complex has been levelled.

hospitals are treating at least 100 people who were hurt by the explosion. authorities say the fire is conta contained, but still small. >> now, if you need more information about the victims of this fertilizer plant explosion in texas, the hillcrest hospital has set up an information number to call. it is 254-202-1100. that's 254-202-1100. well, for an update on the weather conditions in and around the fertilizer plant fire, we want to turn to cabrera who joins us from the cnn weather center. ivan, we heard earlier this fear about the changing direction of the wind. talk to us about that. how that will affect this operation? >> this is our lead story. no matter what, we've been watching these develop.

right now, the winds are out of the south. they are at 33 kilometers per hour. the front is going to be coming in around 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m. look at that bomb series. that is an indication of severe thunderstorm warning. those are the kinds of storms that are going to roll through. what we're talking about here, where i put the cursor, we have west texas, that's in northern mcclowen county there. that's where we're expecting these storms to eventually approach. that will happen any time 3:00, 4:00 a.m. early tonight. you see, my goodness, snow to the north of that. this is going to be a potent storm. we've been talking about this over the last several days. as that happens, we're going to get that wind shift. the winds are 40-50 kilometers per hour.

but with severe thunderstorms, you can certainly get winds in excess of 60, 70 miles per hour. >> we certainly appreciate that, ivan cabrera there. >> cnn's coverage of that massive explosion in texas continues after a short break. [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153,

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