April 16, 1947 - Texas City disaster......

The Texas City disaster of April 16, 1947 is an almost forgotten tragedy. The French Liberty ship Grandcamp exploded and caused a chain reaction that was devastating. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/bg-110130/disaster_aftermath/

"Red Cross and the Texas Department of Public Safety counted 405 identified and 63 unidentified dead. Another 100 persons were classified as "believed missing" because no trace of their remains was ever found. Estimates of the injured are even less precise but appear to have been on the order of 3,500 persons. Although not all casualties were residents of Texas City, the total was equivalent to a staggering 25 percent of the towns estimated population of 16,000. Aggregate property loss amounted to almost $100 million, or more than $700 million in todays monetary value. Even so, this figure may be to low, because this estimate does not include 1.5 million barrels of petroleum products consumed in flames, valued at approximately $500 million in 1947 terms. Refinery infrastructure and pipelines, including about fifty oil storage tanks, incurred extensive damage or total destruction. The devastated Monsanto plant alone represented about $ 20 million of the total. Even though the port's break-bulk cargo-handling operations never resumed, Monsanto was rebuilt in little more than a year, and the petrochemical industry recovered quickly. One-third of the town's 1,519 houses were condemned, leaving 2,000 persons homeless and exacerbating an already-serious postwar housing shortage. Over the next six months, displaced victims returned as houses were repaired or replaced, and most of those who suffered severe trauma appear to have recovered relatively quickly. What could never be made good was the grief and bleak future confronting more than 800 grieving widows, children, and dependent parents."


http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html

...about past tragedies, present injustices, or future tragedies? After all, it's Texas.:sarcasm: I've seen much worse wished upon them and their neighboring states, men, women, and children included from many of the gracious, progressive, and compassionate community that reside here at DU from being the victims of a horrendous natural disaster, nuking, or simply falling into the ocean. Thanks.
quickesst

The Hiroshima bomb was estimated at between 13 and 18 kilotons of TNT and was exploded at 1900 feet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy

Used to be a strong union town (for Texas, that is.) Used to be.

I live there now. Been here for most of the time since 1978, other than college and shortly thereafter.

country's history no matter what state it happened in. I posted it because I have been surprised at how many Americans have never heard of this event. If you have no interest in our history, which we should learn from, then just ignore this thread.

we Texans put up with a shitload of bashing here at DU, and I think he/she was just making that point.

and thank you for posting this. It's always interesting to watch the old news reels. Whenever I'm in the area of Texas City, I wonder if that disaster could happen again.

Horrendous event and one that should be remembered.

grew up in Texas City. Thanks for posting.

we did a study on the Texas City disaster. The actual cause of the explosion is something I would refer to as a "comedy of errors" if not for the fact that the word comedy would piss a lot of people off.

This tragedy isn't forgotten. Engineers in training are taught about this and many other massive foulups of the past in order to learn exactly the kind of implications our design decisions might have.

We also studied the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in '84.

I swear, that class could have been called "look at these stupid decisions made by companies just to save a buck and learn something."

that. This was a chain reaction that should never be allowed to happen again. Though I wonder how many danger spots we have today where one area could blow up and cause more explosions right down the line of other chemical plants, gas refineries, etc.

Thank you. I'll be thinking about this tomorrow

I have several postcards showing the gorgeous skyline at sunset. The unparalleled beauty almost hurt my eyes. There are no words that could adequately describe the little hamlet of Texas City... It's a must see tourist destination. And crabbing with your honey on the dike is just about the most romantic thing you can do, when the dike was still there.

They named the city after the state so you know it's got to be something very special... Absolute beauty...

but Hurricane Ike ripped it apart :(

but Hurricane Ike ripped it apart :(

referred to it on the nightly news as the deadliest explosion in US history. I thought, "Huh, what? What about Texas City?". I figured that wouldn't get past {native Texan} DR, but it did.
http://www.powells.com/biblio/65-9780060959913-2

Still worse happened just the other side of the border:
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780802714589-6

She remembered having to step over dead classmates to get out of the school. Her walk home was not much better seeing so many people covered with blood, severely injured or dead. It was so horrific that she had PTSD from that experience that lasted most of her life.

Thanks for posting about this historic disaster.

that body parts were found as far as five miles from the explosion. That's really powerful. We just don't know what is potentially that devastating just a short distance from where we live.

I was a child of 3-ish in 1951 or '52. My Dad had acquired employment at one of the chemical plants in Texas City. We lived in some old barracks that had been converted to apartments which happened to be right across the street from the memorial cemetery constructed to bury unidentified body parts from the 1947 ship disaster.

I remember going there with older kids who skated along the concrete paths and in the middle was the statue of an angel and a fountain. At the time, of course, I knew nothing of the significance of the place.

It just so happened, however, on a Halloween morning my mother had gone to the mailbox, which was right near the cemetery gate, when she spotted a little black puppy someone had abandoned there. She picked it up and brought it home. Given the circumstances of its discovery, our first dog was named "Spooky".

May all the people who perished in this disaster rest in peace.

I do hope that a hard lesson was learned but I also fear that corporations only interested in their bottom lines continue to cut corners on safety. It is the workers of industry who fight for safety reform. If our ports are safer now, we have our unions to thank.

And Texas City is a lovely place. :toast: to all her residents!