about the condition of the plant. i had always thought nuclear power was safe. but in the end, the plant wasn't safe, was it? >> narrator: just up the coast, the fishermen of fukushima knew what was coming next. >> (translated): it's always been said on this shore, the tsunami will follow the earthquake. i went straight to the harbor and headed out to sea. >> narrator: yoshio ichida wanted to save his boat. he was racing straight into the biggest tsunami waves to strike japan in hundreds of years, hoping to crest them before they broke. >> (translated): they were like mountains. we went over three waves that came directly from the east. they were about 15 meters high. it was like this. >> narrator: the biggest of the waves was more than 40 feet high and traveling at over 100 miles an hour. >> (translated): when i looked back to shore, there was a strange ocean mist. i knew something bad was happening. >> narrator: at the nuclear plant, a worker was filming as his co-workers fled to higher ground. at 3:35 pm, the bigge

the explosion at the texas fertilizer plant has highlighted show coming from the u.s. system of industrial risk a management cynism urgency planning document the fertilizer plant reported having over twenty four kilograms of a high dose ammonia in the hand and the report stated no and file explosive risks the worst possible scenario is invisible was a ten minute release of ammonia guest spot without any casualties but this blast sure causes a run to eighty kilometers away resulting in a rising number of injuries and deaths are g.'s gammage again she's calling the off to most of the disaster from washington d.c. than it is so why did the authorities calculate to the risk of correctly. well first of all we have to say we heard the local police say unless they prove it was an industrial accident like a chemical accident and they treat the area as a crime scene obviously there's going to be an investigation into what caused this massive explosion officials are very reluctant to expand on that at this point but we actually have information emerging about this plant this bir

a large plant explosion at a fertilizer plant near waco, texas. that was our affiliate kxas. a short time ago we heard from texas public safety official d.l. wilson on the latest on the story. let's listen to what he had to say. >> massive. just like iraq. just like the murray building in oklahoma city. same kind of anhydrous exploded. so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking at out there. i know there was at least 50 to 75 houses damaged. there was an apartment complex that has about 50 units in it that was completely just a skeleton standing up. >> again, that was texas public safety official d.l. wilson describing the extent of the damage that he witnessed when he surveyed the conditions at that plant. initial reports are that hundreds have been injured in this explosion. officials. officials are not able to provide numbers of fatalities but they are quite certain there are fatalities. as we heard from that gentleman, 50 to 75 homes destroyed. officials continuing to go door to door searching for the injured. and we will stay on this developing story as it cont

people are confirmed dead and two hundred injured in a blast that has ripped through a fertilizer plant in the u.s. state of texas local residents have been advised to evacuate from the area in the town of west just north of waco firefighters ambulances and helicopter support are at the scene this is the moment of the second blast which is that devastating damage eyewitnesses say five took at apartment complexes nearby schools and hans's some of which have collapsed people are still trapped in some of those houses and the rescue teams are trying to get to them as we speak well in addition to this has this materials have also been released from this plant and very sexperts have been dissed dispatched trying to tackle the aftermath of that explosion and to try and prevent talks spreading to nearby areas a local department of public safety says they do not have information at the moment on the exact number of people that have been killed in the explosion the official figure at the moment is two but many many more were reported dead by local media. just in the in the arab after the explosio

you can see as i say where this plant was let's take a look at where the plants are across the united states shall we there's a lot of them you might be surprised producing and dealing with nitrogen phosphate potash there they all are some of them close to residential areas of course the question marks going to be raised again tonight as they always are when something a renter's like this happens are they safe enough is the right material the right quantities of material being stored there as should be i not more that these are still things to come out with what may or may not have happened in texas let's get some sort showing from the investigative journalist david lindorff now. over and over companies get cited for not having these risky plans in place and they get a small fine and then they don't do anything you know they they maybe go through the motions of having the risk plan but the reality is that it makes absolutely no sense to even have a plant like this in a town but all over especially in the west where you've got fertilizer plants oil refineries and so on they are right i

state of texas where a massive blast has ripped through that fertilizer plant police saying tonight up to fifteen people have been killed and at least one hundred sixty are injured but emergency crews fear as many as seventy may have died. well thank you i think very. terrifying for the people that explosion of a force of a minor earthquake the scientists say destroyed several buildings the ensuing blaze then spread to nearby apartment blocks and the fire at the plant is under control now but several firefighters and a police officer and feed dead officials have shut down the power supply as an evacuation off of the town and concerns that another of the tanker could block because of the tragedy tonight still picking through all that debris police say they'll be getting investigation once rescue operations are over but so far there's no evidence of foul play. reports now from the scene. the mayor of west texas spoke to was just to confirm some of the disaster that we've seen here sixteen of all had been damaged in this explosion and you're doing both at the moment or close to. it we wer

grew above the plant when it exploded. it isn't yet known what caused the blast the initial reports that firefighters were at the scene for an initial fire and then early you may have seen in our headlines a second explosion a huge explosion then took place. seventy people have been reported killed so four so far and hundreds have been injured but we're still waiting to get a definitive number at the moment from emergency services. meanwhile my own scare has gripped america off the letters laced with poison were sent to president obama and other officials the deadly packages were intercepted by authorities and the man has been arrested in mississippi in connection with the case i should say the suspect is well known as a frequent lesser wrong to lawmakers so government offices across the u.s. have also been looked down over the suspicious packages comes just days after the deadly boston bombing and the post nine eleven. attacks which killed several people authorities say video footage from boston has helped him point to po

that still is within a couple of miles of the fertilizer plant. have the first responders or the actual rescue crews maybe been able to get into these areas yet? >> reporter: yes, and that's been their concentration is trying to save lives, trying to get into those areas, those flattened houses, burned out buildings to see if any survivors are still inside there. that's really been the focus of this. not so much a search for a cause of the initial fire or even of putting out the plant fire, but getting in there and rescuing everybody who might be trapped at this point, and it's thought that and it's assumed i think that as they continue those searches for survivors, they're likely to find folks who did not survive. >> and, jim, you know, when we talk about the pictures we're looking at, i know you can't see them, but you're there so you've already seen some of these yourself, this is an incredible amount of damage. some people are comparing this to an earthquake. it registered on the richter scale 2.1 as an earthquake. also an atomic bomb going of

here breaking news on our deaths are confirmed in an explosion that drifts through a fat allies a plant in the u.s. state of texas that's also left over one hundred injured. the blast that registered as a two point one magnitude seismic event in leveled many buildings the town of west with fires tearing through apartment complexes schools and houses rescue services fear the number of dead could climb as many people may be buried under the rubble. wherever you're watching from around the world this is our team you will start off with our breaking news this hour the deaths have been confirmed in an explosion that ripped through a fertilizer plant in the u.s. state of texas that's also left over one hundred people injured to buildings in a five block radius around the center of the blast have been reduced to rubble we can all talk live with our teaser on one girl interviews in taxes all for us right now romano you've just attended the press so with the town's mayor what new information do you have for us. that's right the mayor of west texas spoke to was just a few minutes ago and just to

on the blast at a fertilizer plant in about thirty minutes time. i reckon cardiologist dr omar our claims that the war in iraq destroyed iraq's environment even worse than dropping the bomb on hiroshima did dr e.c. puts to data that the number of breast cancer cases has grown in the country from fifteen to thirty times cases of congenital heart disease have become fifteen times more frequent and cases of leukemia have increased thirty fold the doctor puts the blame on the weapons used in the one thousand nine hundred one and two thousand and three invasions of iraq it which nato forces used white phosphorus depleted uranium rounds and other toxic gases and poisonous substances human rights watch and the world health organization have measured radiation levels in iraq and consider many places in iraq even some very far from the fighting to be contaminated naturally radiation is not racist and foreign soldiers in iraq are not immune usa today even published research results that found that depleted uranium was indeed in the lungs and other organs of

there was initially a fire at the plant. firefighters initially responded to the scene around 6:00 p.m. local time. 6:00 p.m. central time. then there was an explosion. the explosion happened roughly 2 hours later 8:00 p.m. that was reported 10-8 block radius that was affected initially as a result of all of this. >> we know there are confirmed fatalities as we said. officials are not willing to give a number now. when the fire happened there were 6 too 7 firefighters inside trying to get the fire under control and prevent the devastating explosion that we saw. both firefighters are unaccounted for. if indeed they passed away they died as heros trying to save the lives of everyone else in their town. possibly a police officer was inside that plant at the time of the devastating blast as well. so let's go right now live for a closer look at the devastation. fox news reporter casey seigel joining us with the latest. hi, casey. >> heather, patti ann, good morning to you. we are set up in the media staging area. they are keeping

from the from the fertilizer plant we have had a massive. response from our medical our doctors our nurses are written for therapist and they and they have been able to treat and released most of the ones who is who have had the exposure to the to the mound yet we have had twelve admissions of the sixty five patients we've seen there have been law enforcement agencies and first responders coming from throughout the state of texas to respond to this emergency so i can tell you i was there i walked through the blast area a search some houses earlier tonight massive just like iraq just like the murray building in oklahoma city same town and exploded so you can imagine what kind of damage we're looking out there. i know there was at least seventy five to fifty fifty to seventy five houses damaged there's apartment complex that has about fifty units in it that was completely. just skeleton standing and there's a nursing home in the area that one hundred thirty three people in the nursing home we've got them evacuated i don't know what their injur

growth mostly in the form of algae and other microscopic plants like the land plants the algae and the other microscopic ocean plants capture the energy of the sun's your photosynthesis and converted atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrate plant matter and then died and settled to the bottom of the ocean floor but three hundred million years later a massive disaster occurred possibly from a collision with an asteroid it caused an explosion in tectonic activity that tore apart of a continent of and jia and forever changed the planetary environment here it's crust broken many places because of volcanoes to erupt and pieces of land to crumble and migrate and these huge chunks of land collided with each other millions of acres of earth were covered by mountains or by other land that what once think thick mat of vegetation sunk deep within the ground. fifty million years later dinosaurs began to roam the earth and another period of stability began on earth and on its two continents which geologists today called near asia and go go gondwanaland. the triassic jurassic cretaceous periods

that's why they had a fertilizer plant here. there's a hospital here. it was near the plant. they would be overwhelmed of the hundreds of casualties that were injured in this explosion. we heard that the first ems responders on the scene could not get information out because the cellular towers were also knocked out. when the first air ambulances arrived, they rushed to the helicopters and asked them to relay information. >> charles, i'm going to have to interrupt you. there's a news conference that's just starting. we're going to pick that up. >> a lot of unknowns at this point. my name is sergeant william patrick swanton. the reason i'm here tonight is west has called us to assist. i'm here with trooper d.l. wilson from the department of public safety. he is their p.i.o. for our area. we're here to keep you updated in the events that have occurred so far. to bring everybody up to speed on what we know and what has happened so far tonight. we know at 6:00 p.m., roughly, our time, there was a fire at the west fertilizer company in downtown west, texas. once that fire started,

but also the plant owners themselves. the you know that's right and after nine eleven there is a rush to create better security systems in this country and one of the biggest proposals out there was an effort to update the chemical safety standards at plants all over the country and you think about it if a terrorist wanted to come in and blow up a foreign allies or a plant or some other chemical plant that could harm a lot of people in america that's not only good homeland security that's good for business too because that business would be held liable to you know a lot of deaths and economic damage i think could be caused but really every single chemical company in america ever everything from koch industries to dow chemical came together to lobby against this bill and we still don't have a comprehensive chemical safety terrorism law in this country i mean greenpeace put out a big report two years ago really laying out these these issues as congress trying to reform law increasing the number of security personnel at thes

they knew the plant, they knew its potential danger. and so they went about starting the evacuations of the immediate nearby properties while still trying to assess how they could fight the fire. they knew evacuation had to come first, because that was the greatest danger to the surrounding population. 50 minutes later, that is when the first devastating explosion happened. and this is why you have the concern that there are law enforcement and emergency personnel who are, as they put it, unaccounted for. because they were there, facing down that blast when it went off trying to evacuate people. it is hard to imagine a more devastating impact when you have the first responders coming in and the plant blowing up in their face. >> no ordinary fire indeed, which are why there are some firefighters and law enforcement officials among the dead. when we've covered these disasters in the past, we're now nine, ten hours since the initial fire, normally they do give you a death toll. then they update it throughout the evening. is there any clear

and the hospital here is very near the plant.t would be in the danger zone if winds shifted, which they're expected to do later this morning. the spokesman for the dectexas department of public safety said all of the injured had been evacuated from the town of west, perhaps as far away as dallas/fodallas dallas/fort worth for some of the burn victims. as we heard the spokesman say, fatalities are expected. >> we have received some information from one hospital in wa waco, texas, which is about 20 miles away, that they have seen 65 patients. one came in in critical condition and that most others had injuries ranging from minor abrasions to broken bones. they did see a few people in respiratory distress due to chemical inhalation and some are from communities near the plant and some were from the nursing home. we also heard earlier this evening from a different hospital that they were treating a number of burn victims, which would be consistent with the nature of this incident. again, the los angeles times reporting that three peop

the explosion at the texas fertilizer plant has highlighted shortcomings in the u.s. system of industrial risk management the fertilizer plant reported that it only held around twenty four kilograms of and hydro ammonia far less than the twenty tons believed to have ignited and the report stated no end of file explosive rist there is a possible scenario in visitor was a ten minute release of ammonia gas but without any casualties but this blow to shoot houses all around eighty kilometers away resulting into a rising number of injuries and deaths ark washington correspondent says safety at the plant there had been questioned before. this fertilizer plant that exploded in west texas on wednesday night was fined by the environmental protection agency in two thousand and six full failing to have a risk legend plans that met federal standards so that was back in two thousand and six according to the e.p.a. a risk management plan is designed to ensure a chemical accidents don't happen by having safeguards in place to prevent them according to construction permits submitted

state of texas where a massive blast has ripped through a fertilizer plant police say up to fifteen people have been killed and at least a hundred and sixty injured but emergency crews of fear as many as seventy may have died. well you know i don't think i think. the explosion had to be a full assault on mind as the quake and destroyed several buildings and soon place especially nearby apartment blocks and schools apply at the plant is now under control but several functions in a police office on a field day officials have shut down policy plots and evacuated concerts and the concern is that another source like the facilities. the cause of the tragedy is not losing the ability to think that something was coming says i but let's say there's no evidence of foul play artie's rob mundle linda is this. the mayor of west texas spoke to was just confirm some of the facts of the disaster that we've seen here. have been damaged. so that there are. truths which. some damage to the windows which were blown out a tire. and recovery situation and we try to get as close to the. police. raided about a mi

the west fertilizer plant exploding roughly six hours ago. there you see on your map the proximity to those towns. explosion that was proceeded by a fire at 7:50 p.m. local time. they started the evacuation process. the individuals who were affected by the explosion, which happened there about 15 minutes later. at 8:05 local time. leaving buildings completely in shambles. skeletons. the concern there were subsequent fires as a result of that exmotiplosioexplosion. triage was brought to a local baseball field, where there, the number of injured, as we have not had confirmation yet, were brought to the triage and treated. and what we have heard and seen the pictures, very bloodied emergency personnel as they try to assist those injured in the process. we have confirmed f eed fatalit. but do not know a number there. the reporting coming out of the area, as well as officials, are not saying the number of fatalities. they're not giving us a number of injuries. although, there's been wide reports of the potential range of the number of injuries. we

it's that kind of plant. they produce here shifts to local farmers, hence the reason we have such a large explosion because of the chemicals that were there. >> we don't know if it's staffed 24 hours a day, if there were people on site working? >> i do not. >> obviously a major employer, i would imagine with it being that large, you describing the rail system infrastructure that's in place. it's probably pretty big. i would imagine it employs a number of people. we're talking about a kphraoupbt that is 2,800 people total. >> it's a staple of this community. >> let's talk, if we can, about the chemical threat. i heard you say that as the winds continue to pick up and what not, that that threats is sort of diminishing. >> the last i've heard from our environmental people here, our emergency response folks have said that the fire is still burning inside the chemical plant. it is somewhat under control. the environment is okay. at this point we're not seeing any chemicals released into the air and they don't beli

there is the plant right there. all is well. here is a picture of what it looked like today after the explosion and fire as you can see leveled and gone. at the spot where the plant stood until about 21 hours ago. looks like a wasteland. this is what is left of a 50 unit apartment complex near the plant. rescuers have not found survivors but you can see just terrific, terrible damage one in that instant. abc 7 news talked with one resident of that apartment complex today and ahead at 6:00 tells us about getting his young family to safety. about five minutes from now a surprising way california insuspects fertilizer plants here in order to keep them safe. we'll take you there for that story. >> over the years this is odd one of the in history on april the sandoff between federal agents, atf and a religious cult known as branch davidians ended in a deadly fire in waco, texas. 76 emwere killed. two years later oklahoma city bombing killed 168 people. april 20th, columbin columbine -- columbine shootings. two students involved there

we made the initial investments in the plants and the pipes. but once we accomplished that, there was this great recognition that we had a series of issues associated with wet weather conditions. storm events where, all of a sudden, you're dealing with a lot of water. narrator: large amounts of rainwater can cause flooding. engineers developed two approaches to stormwater infrastructure to transport water away from the urban environment. one approach was to carry waste and stormwater through the same pipe. this combined system was less expensive than building two individual pipe networks. and stormwater was seen as a way to flush out the sewers. through the 19th century, the combined system was considered state-of-the-art throughout the world, and is still in use in many cities today. but cities constructed these systems before treatment was the standard. and even today's largest treatment plant doesn't have the capacity to treat the sudden volumes of water rushing through a combined system during rain. the plant is overloaded, and the excess r

those are the street trees we want people to be planting. we do a lot of tree plantings. all of you must intuitively go, "of course it's good to plant trees," of course, i want to put a rain barrel on my house." but is there a measurable environmental impact? trees are going to take up a lot of stormwater over time and are kind of a long-term green investment. we've had more than 200 volunteers come out planting street trees. we need people to make active changes on their property. and to reduce the amount of flow that's going into the combined sewer lines, we're trying to install 4,000 rain barrels. narrator: homeowners can disconnect roof gutter downspouts from the sewer system and divert the stormwater into a rain barrel. schombert: the rain water then can be used to water lawns and gardens and infiltrate back in the ground slowly, rather than being piped to a creek where it disappears moments after the storm's over. it's being held within the watershed and it helps regenerate ground water and stream flows. hecht: that's what we're going to do this afternoon is think a

just down the road from me in fact that so many plants there are chemical plants kind of like it across america the dealing in nitrogen phosphate potash all potentially explosives explosive if they're in the wrong kind of conditions and also big question marks asked as well being raised now by what's happened there in texas about whether these plants are reporting back correctly the amounts of these chemicals they've actually got we got some more thought sir dr jeffrey patterson i spoke to him bit earlier on he's a professor of science at the school of medicine at wisconsin he thinks that lax federal regulation is to blame he thinks is a bigger picture to at least take a listen. there's been this montreaux that we have to deregulate we have to take away regulations so business can thrive and obviously we see examples like this or fukushima for example where when we do that we suffer the consequences in the end and so i think and we're seeing it with the environmental protection agency today where they are promulgating new regulations if there is another to push a virtual bill that will

update on the deadly plant explosion. dy. times you need to double-check the temperature on the thermometer, be ready. for high fever, nothing works faster or lasts longer. be ready with children's motrin. or lasts longer. parebut not on your face. juvÉderm® xc is the gel filler your doctor uses to instantly smooth out lines right here. temporary side effects include redness, pain, firmness, swelling, bumps, or risk of infection. ask your doctor about juvÉderm® xc. and didn't know where to start. used a contractor before at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more, angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i love you, angie. sorry, honey. giant fertilizer plant exp

again, this is a fertilizer plant. and fertilizer as you may well know can be explosive because of the components in fertilizer and in this case it certainly has been. we saw just a quick glimpse i think a moment ago of a football fieldeer inby being used as a staging area. a local high school football field lit up with flood lights and used sort of as a staging area, a triage area as they try to get people out who have been injured. a nearby nursing home is apparently in really bad shape as i said. west middle school caught fire. one witness says. the immediate area surrounding the fertilizer plant has been evacuated because of fear of -- because of the damage done and fear that there could be more explosions. there is some concern that there could be more explosions to come. glass has been blown out of houses and businesses. a lot of people want to get in to help those who have been injured but some fear another explosion so it is making it difficult to evacuate some people from the scene. a number of people have bee

apartment complex near the plant simply leveled. rescuers are still going house to house, searching for victims, evacuating residents. it's dark there, difficult. officials are waiting for the light of day to get a better understanding of the extent of the damage and the destruction there, but we know, as i said, it's simply immense. right now, it's not know what caused the blast but it was still strong. felt 50 miles away. register as a magnitude 2.1. the first wave is the ground shaking and then the next is the sound. it shows you how strong this blast was. so much going on. you just talked to a hospital official. i suppose if there's any good news right now, they say they're not treating people as of this time for any kind of chemical exposure or inhalation. this being a fertilizer plant with this ammonia they're so concerned about. so many injuries, but that doctor telling you no signs of any chemical exposure right now. >> we're very happy to hear that and we're monitoring that very closely. firefighters and everyone else in th

approximately 7:55, the plant exploded.roximately 50 to 60, five-block area, radius, houses were damaged, heavily damaged. west west haven, located a couple of blocks from the fertilizer plant, was in the process of being evacuated due to the fire when the explosion occurred. the rest home, nursing home, has evacuated and taken all their patients out to safe locations. all residents in that area have been evacuated and are in a safe location. i do not have an exact number of casualties at this time, or hurt. we took over 160 to a waco hospital, to area hospitals, for treatment. search and rescue teams have been working through the night combing the west west haven as well as the fertilizer plant and also a thor ough check of the neighborhood. that is continuing as we speak. for those who are missing a loved one or need information, we will have a line set up at the west community center. that's 254-826-4115 at the west community center after 9:00 a.m. we will have another press conference at 4:00. thank you. i ask for your

growth mostly in the form of algae and other microscopic plants like the land plants the algae and the other microscopic ocean plants captured the energy of the sun's your photosynthesis and converted atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrate plant matter and then died and settled to the bottom of the ocean floor but three hundred million years later a massive disaster occurred possibly from a collision with an asteroid it caused an explosion in tectonic activity that tore apart of the continent and jia and forever changed the planetary environment here it's crust broken many places because of volcanoes to erupt and pieces of land to crumble and migrate and these huge chunks of land collided with each other millions of acres of earth were covered by mountains or by other land that what once think thick mat of vegetation sunk deep within the ground. fifty million years later dinosaurs began to roam the earth and another period of stability began on earth and on this two continents which geologists today called lure asia and go go gondwanaland. the triassic jurassic cretaceous periods

>> we live about a mile from the fertilizer plant.re just in our living room and it felt like a bomb went off. there were probably about a bunch of folks and everyone went outside and went to figure out what happened. we went down a couple blocks. >> and the damage that we're seeing in the pictures, all over west, really horrible. have you any estimate from what you've seen of how many properties may have been either totalled or badly damaged? can you still hear me mr. murray? no, we've lost mr. murray. mr. westrob, can you hear me? >> i can. >> am i right? are you a resident of west? >> no, i live in waco texas. >> about 18 miles away? >> about 25 miles. >> right. did you feel this there? we're getting reports from people as much as 40 miles away. >> no, we didn't feel this in waco. >> right. what do you know about what is currently going on there in terms of the battle with the fire? >> unaware of that, we are trying to deal with the casualties that are showing up at our hospital right now. >> i'm sorry. are you a doctor at the hosp

itself -- at the fertilizer plant itself is out at this hour. that's good. it is under control to the p oi nt -- point where they can let in some firefighters to do some damage assessments. what is happening right now as we speak, they are going home to home to home trying to see if anyone needs rescuing or if anyone has lost their life. at this point, they are not confirming any numbers in terms of fatalities that came out of this. earlier in the evening we heard the director of the emergency management services saying that the fatality count could go as high as 70, but all of the press conferences that have been held since then no one has confirmed or substantiated the information. quite frankly they say we have to wait until the sun comes up which is several hours away until they can get in there and get a feel for how much damage was done and how many people lost their life in this massive explosion and how many people remain injured. we are hearing reports that some people could still remain trapped this their homes. what those emergency cr

they don't look like they are that far from that plant. >> they told us this fertilizer plant caught fire around 6:30 to 7:00 tonight. the fire department, five or six people on the scene trying to fight this fire. >> he very well could have been there. we want to bring in the meteorologist. explain the whether and how it is involved. >> the big factor is the wind. you heard ben talk about that as well. i am working on a forecast for west. there will have a southerly wind. we have a wind gusting up to 35 miles an hour right now. they have very similar winds down there. for the next four, five, six hours or so, northwest wind coming into the picture as a cold front comes through. around sunrise tomorrow, chance for thunderstorms in the 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. time frame. temperatures tomorrow mostly in the 50s. i am going to change my graphic here. we are tracking these thunderstorms. i have a time line i want to show you. not only for the west area, but basically all of north texas. we are monotremes some thunderstorms that are trying to get going. there will be cranking as we get pas

get out here breaking news on our jets are confirmed in an explosion that ripped through a fat eliza plant in the us state of texas has also left over one hundred injured. the blogs of that registered as a two point one magnitude does this make you mad to leveled many buildings in the tunnels west with flyers tearing through apartment complexes schools and halls those rescue services feel the number of dead could climb as many people may be buried under the rubble. oh. it's two pm here in a moscow you're watching r t a live with me to say. i to remind of our breaking news this hour deaths are confirmed in a blast that ripped through a fertilizer plant in the u.s. state of texas also leaving over one hundred injured the blaster took place at eight pm local time for shells are now saying that the fire has been contained local authorities confirmed deaths at the fertilizer plant but of the number of casualties is still unclear a number of firefighters are also still missing local residents have been advised to evacuate from the area and the town of west that's just north of away cars the u.s.

for the plant too. >> plants know quite a lot. knows if you're standing on it because it feels it. it knows if its neighbor is sick because it smells it. it knows where its food is because it sees it. >> reporter: plants feeling, smelling, seeing? plant complexity biologist daniel shamovitz explains is rooted in something simple. >> think about it. a plant being rooted. it can't move. it can't escape. if you're thirsty, you can go to a ball. if you're cold, you can go to florida. a plant is stuck where it is. so it has to adapt in order to survive. that has led to the evolution of complex biology that isn't found in most animals. >> reporter: at the new york botanical garden, that complexity is on display. >> when we're looking at these irises a really cool question is how do they know it's spring? >> reporter: that's one of the many questions he explores in his book "what a plant knows." >> and the way that they know it's spring is that they see the light. the leaves of the iris are constantly monitoring light environment. they'r

he was there aware of what happened at the think plants let's just listen to what he said realize or as we know is extremely combustible so it's been used in bombs and so it's manufacture is extremely delicate and can easily if handled wrong or if handled in safely can lead to explosion so we have to assume at this point that it is such a chemical explosion that happened there at the plant when you're handling chemicals like this there is a possibility that there can be chemical contamination that could be it would need to be cleaned up in the aftermath of the explosion so they'll undoubtedly be extensive monitoring of the areas around the plant in order to make sure that whatever chemicals have been spread around can be cleaned up to reduce future toxicity to the residents with the kinds of winds that blow in such big intense fires there will be airborne distribution. so there's nothing that can be done while the event just happening what will be done is is assessment and cleanup in the aftermath currently people are being evacuated because of the dangers to for further explosions f

texas in the city where a fertilizer plant exploded. >> hundreds of hurt taken to a football field turned into a triage center. >> several people have been killed in this massive blast and fire that raged for hours. >> this blast has rocked the sound of west, a community 80 miles south of dallas. john alston is monitoring the latest developments from the newsroom. >> the danger has not passed as fumes are lingering in the area and an emergency room doctor said earlier at least two emt firefighters had been killed. officials expect many more fatalities. are more than a hundred people have been hurt and take to local hospitals. the flames were already raging and firefighters were pouring water on the fertilizer plants when disaster struck. the massive explosion could be felt more than 40 miles away. in the immediate area the results are devastating. the mayor of west texas believes 60 to 80 homes are leveled or seriously damaged. >> i can tell you i was there. i walked to the blast area and searched some houses earlier tonight and massive is. just like iraq. just like the murrah building in

the event of a nuclear explosion a power plant going up the explosion of a plant like this there is no way to prepare for it and i think we see that in chernow what we saw in fukushima. and we're seeing it now that many people are going to die many people are going to be injured permanently by this so you can do all the preparation what and it really does not prevent the problem and perhaps governor perry would be better off looking at the regulatory tory agencies and preventing accidents like this and physicians for social responsibility we have a saying that there is no cure only prevention and he may have the best prepared emergency agencies but in terms of the regulatory agencies perhaps not so well do you think that could have been something that was a full did you think it's something that closely needs to be examined now we've been talking about on this program over the last an hour or so at length do you think there was a failing that maybe all of that the general picture a big a failure across the states this kind of thing. i think it's a bigger picture there's been this montr

within two miles of this plant. are confirmed. fatalities are confirmed. they won't put a number on it. the fear is this, lots of local firefighters fighting those flames before the massive fireball took place. obviously, they were there, and they were close when the explosion happened. we'll try to get hard numbers, and we'll be right back. >> coming up, we'll talk to a woman who runs a local blood bank. k to a woman who runs a local blood bank. local blood bank. dad taught me so much, especially how important it is to protect the ones you love. these policies will help do that if anything ever happens to either one of us. >> right, it was easy to apply for the coverage. >> it was. we answered a few simple health questions, didn't even have to take a physical, so we didn't miss any time from work. >> and it's affordable. it had to fit in to our budget, which isn't an easy thing to do these days. ♪ >> with a term life insurance policy through the colonial penn patriot program, you can help ease the burden of the une

it was a fertilizer plant. erica ferrari has the very latest. >> reporter: this morning, rescue crews are still pulling people out of the rubble going door to door trying to evacuate people who may still be trapped in area homes and businesses. we know at least 160 are injured. authorities say between 5 to 15 people are presumed dead. the death toll is expected to go up as search teams continue their efforts this morning. a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant rocked the town of west, texas. >> the shock wave was unbelievable. it threw me down. >> reporter: officials say the town looks like a war zone with homes and businesses leveled. >> massive. just like iraq, just like the murrah building in observations. >> a five block area buildings were heavily damaged. >> reporter: several firefighters and police officer are feared dead. >> the mayor has been here earlier tonight. he is also a firefighter for this city. it has taken a toll on him because he knows that potentially he has lost some firefighters. >> re