city, texas city, texas and the year was 1947. an accident frightingly similar to the deadly explodes at a plant last night in the texas town of west. trace gallagher live in our west coast newsroom with this eerie piece of history. >> it was actually a french cargo ship that was anchored in texas city, texas. it was carrying 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. 66 years ago today a fire broke out on board the ship in the morning. flames were so spectacular that hundreds of people ran down to the shoreline to watch. an hour later the ship exploded. killing almost everyone who was on or near the pier, including the entire texas city fire department. that led to a chain reaction of explosions and fires that killed at least 576. we do not know the exact death toll to this day. it injured more than 5,000 it also damaged or destroyed thousands of buildings. still, the worst industrial u.s. accident in history and consider, this the explosion knocked planes out of the sky. it blew the ship's 3,000-pound anchor two miles away. it bl

texas city, texas, was nearly wiped off the map. we have a picture of the shaft from the grand camp's engine which ended up way inland clear across the railroad tracks. the 3,000 pound anchor from the ship was thrown across the city, and was the largest industrial accident in the history of the united states and it happened 66 years ago this week. that was the fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, the same fertilizer oklahoma city bomber mixed with fuel oil to create his bomb that blew up the federal building 18 years ago tomorrow in oklahoma city. the galveston bay blast, noted just for context, was about 300 times the size of the bomb in oklahoma city. we know fertilizer can be dangerous. it is often made from potentially explosive materials. in the city of west in texas, the fertilizer plant that explode last night had permits for 212,000 gallon tanks of anhydrous ammonia liquid form and can ignite in high temperatures used for makeing fertilizer. the deputy sheriff explained today how the situation inside that plant was made at the faci

texas city, texas, was nearly wiped off the map. we have a picture of the shaft from the grand camp's engine which ended up way inland clear across the railroad tracks. the 3,000 pound anchor from the ship was thrown across the city, and was the largest industrial accident in the history of the united states and it happened 66 years ago this week. that was the fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, the same fertilizer oklahoma city bomber mixed with fuel oil to create his bomb that blew up the federal building 18 years ago tomorrow in oklahoma city. the galveston bay blast, noted just for context, was about 300 times the size of the bomb in oklahoma city. we know fertilizer can be dangerous. it is often made from potentially explosive materials. in the city of west in texas, the fertilizer plant that explode last night had permits for two 12,000 michigan tanks of anhydrous ammonia liquid form. and can ignite in high temperatures used for making fertilizer. the deputy sheriff explained today how the situation inside that plant was made at the

the explosions happened last night in the city of west, there in texas, about 20 miles north of waco. and 66 years ago to the day, this all too eerie. yesterday's "the new york times" front page in 1947 detailed another texas blast. this one in texas city, killing hundreds and injures thousands of others. >>> an arrest has been made in the murder of a texas district attorney, kim lee williams the wife of a former texas justice of the peace has confessed that she and her husband were involved in the shooting death of koffman county assistant prosecutor and district attorney mark mcclellan and his wife. mrs. williams said her husband shot the two officials who prosecuted him for theft. >>> a suspect is under arrest today in mississippi accused of sending poison letters. federal agents arrested paul kevin curtis for allegedly sending letters contaminated with ricin to president obama and senator roger wick of mississippi. before the letters reached senate offices or white house they were found in mail facilities. >>> the investigation of the boston marathon bombings is focusing on the se

city from the map rages uncontrollable and unchecked. explosion and fire create a holocaust that baffles description and blocks out the sun for miles around. >> an explosion on april 17th, 1947 at a texas city on the gulfcoast happened as fertilizer was being loaded onto a ship. the subsequent chain reaction of fires killed almost 600 people. ammonium nitrate can become a powerful explosive and what the bomber timothy mcveigh used to kill 168 people. there's no connection but the point is fertilizer is a dangerous substance. texas regulators knew they had 12,000 gallon tanks of the ammonia and due to a controlled fire from the fertilizer plant. the dallas news is reporting the plant told the environmental protection agency and local officials it did not present a risk of fire or explosion and worst case scenario would be a 10 minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or in injure no one. records from the occupational safety administration shows the last inspection of the west fertilizer plant happened in 1985, for a few violations os

it exploded and that explosion killed thousands of people in texas city. it was the worst industrial accident of the last century. >> okay. i want to talk a little bit about the images we're seeing now. for those who are just joining us, these fires is not as a result -- this is not the plant we're looking at. these are fires that are a result of that initial explosion at the plant. this is the surrounding area. we've been seeing all night a number of buildings on fire and damaged or completely destroyed and that's the surrounding area that has been damaged because of the force of this blast that we now know registered more than a 2.1 magnitude earthquake. we still don't know why this happened. of course explosions like this have, as we just heard from charles hadlock, happened in the past at fertilizer plants that contained these type of chemicals. we don't know exactly what happened here. we do know state officials and even federal officials are monitoring the situation very closely. texas governor rick perry has said that "we have mobilized state resour

you might remember in 1947, in texas city, texas, a very similar thing happened. there was a fire on a board that was filled with 2300 tons of that stuff. it blew and it killed over 500 people. so this is what we're dealing with in west texas. >> wow. todd, thank you so much for joining us. todd starns from fox news the radio. you've been bringing us perspective there and the latest details. thank you so much. >> thank you, the elizabeth. >> for our folks at home, we heard from a trooper who said that it looks like iraq, and that the murray building in the oklahoma city building is a good comparison, showing you how much devastation we're seeing in west texas. stay with us. we'll have more information after the break. >>> this is a fox news alert. we continue to monitor the situation out of west texas where we heard earlier there are more than 100 injuries in that plant explosion, and we also know there have been fatalities. we're hours away from a press conference where we're learn more. a large team of federal investigators are heading to central texas to invest

city got pounded overnight with 3 to 7 inches of rain. some lakes and bayous are spilling over their banks. strong storms yesterday caused flooding that shut down a major huston tollway to the airport. fortunately that artery has since reopened. yesterday the fire department helped dozens of cars that got stuck in that flooding. nothing like that here. this is now a 96-year tradition. opening day on the bay. a day celebrating boating season. more than 100 yacht clubs get together every year for the festivities. there will be a parade on the bay from noon to three with over 120 historic vessels, classic and contemporary boats. there should be great picture taking opportunities as anything that floats is likely to be out there on the bay today. and the 150 year tradition sell are brace the port of san francisco. it's contributions to the city's past, present and future, there's a big 150 birthday bash at pier 39 starting at 11:00 this morning and tonight at six there will be a gala reception at the historic ferry building. and not to be ove

that explosion back in texas city in the 1940s killed thousands of people. >> say on the line, if you will. i want to listen in to the nbc affiliate and their coverage of this development. >> smoldering embers, a patch of orange just near the stadium lights. we have been talking about the football field. we drove past the bat, which looks vacant now. much of the town does as well. lot of the streets are blocked off. we are trying to get closer to where all of this unfolded so that we can bring you more coverage on that. as you drive past gas stations, folks do not want gas to be in the air because of the situation that unfolded. my first impression as you drive in is that it just looks like a ghost town with red in blue police lights. >> ray has arrived on the seam in west, as we continue to look at these images shot. you can see what he is talking about. all of the flashing lights that have converged to help people in this community. we are still working with these numbers that we have been sharing with you. at least 200 injured, 40 of those people in critical condition. 75 to 100 ho

some 66 years ago, there was a tremendous explosion in the port of texas city. a ship called the grand camp caught on fire. and just like today, a lot of people came out to the docks to watch the fire and watch the firefighters fight the flames. and the grand camp blew up. that explosion killed thousands of people. but it wasn't over. the next day, the fire was burning. airplanes were circling, looking at the damage. and a second ship, "the high flier" blew up. both ships contained anhydrous ammonia. it's a dangerous product. but a necessary product. this is a farming community. and that's why the plant is here. >> charles hadlock. live in west, texas. you're watching msnbc. we'll have more after this. m on. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an

menlo park fire chief who's talked about the texas city fertilizer explosion that killed hundreds in the 1940s believes yesterday's disaster will become another one for the textbooks. he has questions about how firefighters responded to the fire. >> did they make it better or worse? >> reporter: that plant reportedly stored tens of thousands of pounds of a type of ammonia, extremely flammable and explosive when exposed to water. >> with that type of ammonia, if you add water, it's going to expand to a large, white vapor cloud. did that create a different problem for them that they weren't aware of? when you have a volunteer fire department, whether they had that level of training, i don't know. >> reporter: the chief doesn't question the bravery of his texas colleagues who probably knew that they were putting their lives on the line. >> when you go to those calls, you think about dying. you could die. it doesn't always happen, but sometimes it goes wrong. but they were doing their job and that's the job of the firefighter. not to necessarily die in the course of their duties, but, ag

the city here in west texas downtown. there are police from jurisdictions throughout texas and patrolling the streets here making sure that people do not go into the dangerous area we're in the middle the downtown area quite a distance away from the plan itself but throughout. the streets here in the downtown area there are windows which have been blown out which really points to how powerful the blast was quite a distance away there is damage. quite a distance away right now it is. around four in the morning here and austin texas so there are some business owners who are just starting to arrive to see that their businesses have been damaged and are starting to clean up after we see some people sweeping up glad there's boarding up in the windows and again just the chatter. talking about what a devastating event this has been for this tiny little town of twenty six hundred people a lot of people here know each other a lot of people here wary that their friends were some of those first responders to who purchased on it beca

city texas fire and explosion which killed twelve hundred people that was at a month's santo chemical plant that was in a town very near to houston so very significant timing and very eerie as well when it comes to the day. and we've been getting some sciences views on what could have caused the explosion at the fets lies a plant in texas professor christopher busby from the european community under radiation says there's more behind this blast. and hydrocele monia on its own would not be able to produce the kind of devastation that we hear is occurring over there it seems much more likely to me that like the other money i'm not great plant explosions in history particularly the one in one hundred twenty one in germany and there was one also in texas in one hundred forty seven is somehow the ammonium nitrate itself the fertilizer material that is produced by this foam to explode it now it's quite easy to detonate ammonium nitrate in fact ammonium nitrate was used in the war as am a tall as a as a war explosive and ammonium nitrate is a constituent of many explosives now so i do it for

back in 1947, in texas city, texas, two ships loaded with ammonia nitrate, same product here exploded killing thousands of people. it's the worst industrial accident in all of the united states. >> what about the first responders in west, texas? did they have the ability to deal with a disaster like this? experience and training? there have been some questions about that this morning. >> reporter: they have what they call mutual aid here. when the fire call went out and first out of town ambulance arrived, they got on the radio and called for more help. they said send us every ambulance. send us every helicopter you have. that's what happened. all the medical helicopters from waco, dallas, tyler, came to this area to help in the rescue of the wounded here in town. and by about 1:00 a.m., the texas department of public safety said that all of the injured people had been evacuated from the town but they were still going door by door, block by block, what is left of this town to try to find any remaining survivors. chuck? >> all right. charles hadlock in west, texas, for us. charles, tha

cities that have a crowded party is the biggest threat to the lone star state these days that's like compelling and the very very ugly bob davis during a recent broadcast of his radio program the davis' never show even a sort of talk show host let loose on the issue of gun control as expected david strict strongly criticized president obama and senate democrats for supporting new firearm regulations but he saved his most passionate attacks weirdly for the parents of newtown victims telling them to go to hell seriously no joke with take a listen. i have something i want to say to the victims of newtown or any other shooting i don't care if it's here in minneapolis or anyplace else just because a bad thing happened to you doesn't mean that you get to put a king in charge of my life i'm sorry that you suffered a tragedy but you know what deal with it and don't force me to lose my liberty which is a greater tragedy than your loss i'm sick and tired of seeing these victims trotted out given rides on air force one hauled into the senate well and everyone is just a freak they're terrified h

city texas fire and. which killed twelve hundred people that was at eight months santo chemical plant and that was in a town very near to houston so very significant timing and very eerie as well when it comes to the day we heard from the people that we've spoken to tonight about how these are their friends their colleagues the people they know they've grown up with it's a town of less than three thousand people and a very strong spirit and this is when things like this happen these people rally together so that they can help each other get through this area my colleague andrew fama spoke to world affairs analyst professors three round child they believe that the blast was a sign of a major lapse in the u.s. system of maintenance control. another fear of regulation by the state of texas and by the u.s. government to address arch of private corporations that have not to adhere to safety regulations seems like a reprisal of the gulf of mexico oil spill by b.p. track record shows that america especially the

city texas fire and explosion which killed twelve hundred people that was that a month santo chemical plant that was in a town very near to houston so very significant timing and very eerie as well when it comes to the day. right on my team have been closely following the tragedy since the beginning lining up from my witnesses gauging reaction and pictures from. across developments minutes by minutes. before reaction. to the tragedy in a couple of minutes well you know mine plus when we come back. with toxic runs in which was sent to president obama to other officials just a month he was still reeling from the boston bombings today without my mom on that . technology innovation all the developments around russia we've. covered. the international at the very heart of moscow. thanks for staying with us you're watching r t the explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of west in texas could have killed up to fifteen people and at least one hundred sixty have been injured there are fears that the number of killed it could be much higher buildings around the block area have been reduced

about the democratic party not the authoritarian state threatening to rain nuclear warheads on major texas cities that have a tragic part is the biggest threat to the lone star state these days that's a compelling idea and a very very ugly bob davis during a recent broadcast of his radio program the davis ever show even a sort of talk show host let loose on the issue of gun control as expected david strict strongly criticized president obama and senate democrats for supporting new firearm regulations but he saved his most passionate attacks weirdly for the parents of newtown victims telling them to go to hell seriously no joke with take a listen. i have something i want to say to the victims of newtown or any other shooting i don't care if it's here in minneapolis or anyplace else just because a bad thing happened to you doesn't mean you get to put a king in charge of my life i'm sorry that you suffered a tragedy but you know what deal with it and don't force me to lose my. liberty which is a greater tragedy than your loss i'm sick and tired of seeing these victims trotted out given rides

city texas fire and explosion which killed twelve hundred people that was at eight months santo chemical plant that was in a town very near to houston so very significant timing and very eerie as well when it comes to the day. online team have been closely following the tragedies since the beginning lining up footage from eyewitnesses gauging twitter reaction and pictures of from the scene had to come to keep across as developments minute by minute. with more reaction to the taxes in a couple of minutes plus when we come back the letters that lays with the toxic ricin the which was sent to president obama and to all the officials just the country it was still reeling from the boston bombings the state without. the. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've. covered. see. america international airport in the very heart of moscow. you're back with us here on r.g.p. the explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of west texas could have killed up to fifteen people and if these one hundred sixty have been injured there are fears that the number of killed could be much h

city texas fire and. which killed twelve hundred people that was at a monsanto chemical plant that was in a town very near to houston so very significant timing and very eerie as well when it comes to the day we heard from the people that we've spoken to tonight about how these are their friends their colleagues the people they know they've grown up with it's a town of less than three thousand people and a very strong spirit and this is when things like this happen these people rally together so that they can help each other get through this the social media sphere is now bursting with comments on the tragedy md i would this is have been posting some of their footage and snapshots of the blast seize these images from twitter which of course is a lot i do with the discussions of the disaster the massive smoke cloud from the blast was pictured by several people and the images of the mayhem in the area surrounding the plant also be made available collapsed and burning buildings as well as survivors. say with

happened on april 16th if that is ironic to you way back in 1947 in texas city texas at a fertilizer plant. it exploded similar to what is happening here today. in that explosion 581 people died making it the deadliest industrial accident in american history. of course the number of deaths not being confirmed here so far. we do know there are deaths. we also know hundreds of people injured. >> obviously the investigation into how exactly this could happen is going to be ongoing. a large team of investigators from the u.s. chemical safety board the csb has been deployed to the scene. they are going to be looking into the cause. it's an independent federal agency and their whole job is to look into this type of industrial chemical accident. they say typically they are looking for physical causes, equipment failure, also regulation issues, et cetera, as casey mentioned this plant was sited in 2006 for a violation. that is many years ago. right now more questions than answers. >> as we wait to hear more information on all of that and the damage the mayor of west texas asking for prayers

the incident became known as the texas city disaster. >> incredible too. >>> many of the responders from last night's disasters are volunteers. what makes them risk it all without getting paid. that's ahead on "cbs this morning." [ female announcer ] dear guys, looking for the perfect pair of levi's? ♪ the right color, the right style, the right fit? come to the levi's denim bar at jcpenney because you deserve the perfect pair at a great price. ♪ get younger looking skin fast. with new olay regenerist micro-sculpting cream. with 2 new anti-aging ingredients. visible wrinkle reduction starts day 1. see youngerooking seforyou. new from olay. ♪ see youngerooking seforyou. (announc) ises. now serving eakfast. was a record collection. no. there was that fuzzy stuff on the gouda. [ both ] ugh! when it came to our plants... we were so confused. how much is too much water? too little? until we got miracle-gro moisture control. it does what basic soils don't by absorbing more water, so it's there when plants need it. yeah, they're bigger and more beautiful. guaranteed. in pots. in the groun

and that killed thousands of people in texas city. it blue airplanes out of the sky. it blew tanks miles away. it was the worst industrial accident in the last century. another reminder of just how powerful and dangerous anhydrous ammonia can be in certain conditions such as a fire. >> and of course you mentioned in that previous incident, the historic one you that mentioned, that a number of aircraft were affected by that. and as a result of that out of an abundance of precaution officials have in fact ground -- or issued a no-fly zone, rather, in that area to keep helicopters and aircraft away. what can you tell us about the first responders on the scene. are they able to get access to the scene with the road blocks and with the severe damage that's been done to the community? >> right now we can see first responders going in and out of the roadblock area. apparently, they're offering relief to the crews that are there, perhaps more sophisticated equipment than this county has. as you mentioned the firefighters from as far away as dallas and fort worth are here help

there was a large explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of west, texas. it's not west texas. it's the city of west, texas. about 2,800 residents in that town. you were listening to sergeant patrick swanton, updating us on the story, in terms of what the officials are saying, 5 to 15 fatalities. three to five first responders are missing at this hour. they're using a local high school football feed as a triage center. and in terms of who is sent to area hospitals to get a sense of how many people may have been injured, from minor to see veer, area hospitals have treated 160 people right now. the neighborhood surrounding this fertilizer plant remains shut down. we're told that utilities are turned off, as well. and authorities are going house-by-house to, assess injuries and who may still be in their homes and to encourage them to remain in their homes until daylight and they can secure the area and make sure it is safe. of course, there was concern about ammonia in the air. sergeant swanton said right now, there's no particular concern about the air quality. they will continue

that's what we're looking at in the city of west, texas. there is a cold front, once that front moves east, they'll be blowing towards the south. the winds will remain strong, gusting up to 35 miles per hour throughout the day today. the storms we're tracking have the potential to dump large hail, producing damaging wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour. a chance of isolated tornadoes, but that isn't a concern right now. the concern is that we're seeing them approaching the west texas area. they're just to the west. we could see them arrive in the city of west as soon as within the next hour or so. taking a look at the future radar, looking at the timing here, by 6 a.m. local time. right now it is about 5:11 local time. we anticipate the storms will be producing heavy rain out here. lightning is possible. we're talking about anywhere between a quarter of an inch to half an inch of rain. a very significant punch with these storms we're expecting to arrive very soon. >>steve: maria molina in the weather center, thank you very much. >>gret

city of west sits in a very rural area. and the blast shook the entire community. it was just a major major explosion! the bond pit picture up and drop to it exploded all round new! the damage could be done far and wide. houses left in ruins and grooves and ripped apart it was utterly destroyed. and now much of the town is still closed off a search and rescue crews still search for survivors. what would you compare this to? a bomb nothing but a bomb there still in the search and rescue face of the process. pam now bactria kron 4's charles clifford the area. it was on fire it was a real heavy blaze and then all the sudden it just exploded maybe 50 ft. maybe farther than that. all the windows are blown man a sonic boom i ended up face down. you weren't there you do not know you do not know we could have been killed. >> reporter: just before 8:00 p.m. wednesday in a fire broke out at a for the period the plane exploded the shock wave damaged or destroyed nearby homes this is an aerial view of the house burning late into the ni

that was the texas city disaster. that was another fertilizer explosion, and i'm reading here, that left 581 people dead. that was when a french vessel was hauling ammonium nitrate that caught fire. so a tragic coincidence there. weather, of course, has been a major concern here. we're watching that very closely, because we expect it to play a very big role as you heard throughout our coverage here. let's go back to our meteorologist ivan cabrera. this is going to make a big difference for first responders. >> they're going to have to contend with severe thunderstorms rolling through. this is horrific time. we knew this front was coming but didn't know what was going to transpire yesterday. here's texas. severe thunderstorm watch now in effect, very close to where we have that fertilizing explosion. expecting that watch to be extended further to the east. we're about 4 1/2 to 5 hours from the storms as they continue to roll in. i want to show you some of these storms are prompting severe thunderstorm warnings here thr

city on the gulf coast happened as fertilizer was loaded on the ship. the chain reaction of fires killed almost 600 people. ammonium nitrate can be a powerful explosive. it is what timothy mcveigh used to blow up the alfred p. myrrh row building. there is no reason to suspect foul play in this incident. the point is that fertilizer is a dangerous substance. in 2006, according to the dallas morning news, texas regulators knew the west fertilizer company had 12,000 tanks of ammonia and a school was evacuated due to a controlled fire from the fertilizer plant. the dallas morning news is saying the plant told officials it did not praent risk of fire or explosion and worse-case scenario would be a ten-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one and then this. records from the federal occupational safety and health administration show the agency's last inspection of the west fertilizer plant happened in 1985. for a few violations that osha considered serious the company was fined, wait for it, $30. $30. 28 years seems like a long time betwe

city when a phone exploded now well known let me ask you is there any information more about what the investigation is leading to is still being treated as a criminal investigation. right well this weekend we're able to speak to the deputy state fire marshal who says he is now in the lead of the investigation he said that so far there is no indication that anything criminal has happened however he also did say that he doesn't even know where the fire itself started the only new information that we were able to gather from state fire investigators is that they had been removing some of the tanks from the site which contained and hydrants ammonia. but as of right now there doesn't seem to be any sort of signs of criminal intent however we have to remember that earlier this year a school near by the plant had to be a bag with it because a pallet fire was being conducted there at the plant the superintendent of the school said that they had not been aware of that fire or they hadn't been given at advanced notice now and there's no indication that there was a palace fire going on before th

it all happened in the city of west, texas. that's about 20 miles north of waco. and registered a magnitude 2.1 on the richter scale. the local ems director was visibly injured in the blast. and he describes the explosion. >> just a major, major explosion. the windows came in on me. the roof came in on me. the ceiling came in. i worked my way out to go get some more help. we lost all communication because the power went out. the station is damaged. the whole 1500 block of stillmeadow, the closest street to it. >> weather could play a role in this story. it could interfere with search and rescue efforts and the distribution of potentially toxic fumes. for more, we're joined by nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> at the press conference, they were talking about the fact that the winds are going to shift directions. that's a big concern because the first responders on the ground, they don't want to be downwind of this plant and any toxic gases being emitted. right now, the winds are out of the south, 20 to 30 miles per hour consistently. that didn't help the firefighte

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

tragedy in texas. >> treating the wounded and >>> that breaking news is in 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 taken 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

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 taken 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. th west texas 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

to give you an idea about this city, west texas, a very small town with a population of 2700 people, one man says they only have three ambulances in the entire town and at least one of them was already at that plant when the blast went off. which will, of course, continue following this story throughout the morning. starting at 5:00, the "today" show will be along and bring you the latest starting at 7:00. >>> right here in the bay area, we have breaking news in san francisco where a bomb squad, a bomb squad unit is now on the scene of a suspicious package located in that financial district. >>> "today in the bay's" christie smith is live near market and third street. she has the latest on scene. good. >> reporter: good morning. we are on the 600 block of market street. they are blocking off all access points. the area in question is right on the other side of the yellow tape. i don't know if you can see a vehicle down there. it has four lights on it. i'm told that's the san francisco bomb squad that was called out here about 2:47. that's when they first got a report of a suspicious

about a month after this happened to me in the city of arlington, texas, another city attorney had a hit taken out on them, also working on sexually oriented businesses. not that guy. -- they caught that guy. clearly, it is something that goes on that people don't recognize. >> i'm looking at an article in the houston chronicle that talked about the fact you were beaten senseless by an unidentified intruder who left bleeding, cracked and fist sized bruises on your face and chest. not found the person who did this. and this is how many years later? or how many months later? >> about a year-and-a-half. it happened september 17, 2011 rid know, they have not found anybody. >> your not raped or robbed? >> no. that is one of the reasons it wants to professional job. i had money out, jewelry out. nothing was taken or disturbed. i was not sexually assaulted. by the nature of the injuries on my head in the back of my head, certain shapes of them, a friend of mine, former special ops, said it is either someone who knows martial arts or a professional hit. somebody had followed me home from the

. >> officials say that the area impacted by the fertilizer plant explosion in west texas is safe. city council member steve vanek says that the first wave of residents should be allowed to move back in today. however they will be subject to a curfew for the time being. the west fertilizer company exploded on wednesday -- killing fourteen people and injuring dozens more. portions of the town were leveled and dozens of homes were damaged. yesterday authorities began inspecting the area. this is what council member vanek had to say today. >> everything is safe. any rumors that you've heard today, forget about it. it's good. we're trying to get our people back in, and i want to encourage that please. everything is safe, safe, and safe. >> police in denver colorado are searching for one or two suspects who opened fire during a 4-20 celebration. this is the first time the state has hosted such an event since they legalized marijuana. a man and a women were both shot but are expected to survive. the man's dog was also shot -- but there was no further information available on the dogs con

. >> it's the fourth of july, 2006, in belton, texas. a city just outside of the biggest army base in the united states. fort hood. to beat the texas heat, soldiers and civilians alike head to a local swimming hole. a group of teenage boys are there that day. >> the lake during the summer is one of the biggest hangout spots. >> the group decides to bring a video camera to film their antics. >> we decided to film anything we thought was worth watching over and over. playing pranks on each other. we were just going to be adolescent boys at the lake. >> go now. >> the idea for this video is to record each other cliff jumping. an activity not unusual for a hot summer day. >> this is going to be funny. >> the cliff we were jumping off of was probably around 20 feet or so. there's not much runway. it's a lot of rock and brush. >> chris handly, a 15-year-old local is one of the teens. >> if you jump properly, you have no problems, you don't hit the bottom and bounce back up. and keep having fun. >> but if the jump falls short -- >> you land in

look at this out of el paso, texas. 107b story city hall build-- the 10-story city hall building was demolished. they cordoned off a large section of the downtown area ahead of the implosion and it wept off without a hitch. >>> -- went off without a hitch. >>> this moose to pick on someone his own size. this consider -- goose is chasing a gorilla. and you can see the primate running away in fear. the video is shot in the zoo in capsas and canadian geese ended -- kansas and canadian geese ended up in the enclosures and they are chasing them out of there. someone needs to tell the gorilla he is a gorilla and the goose he's goose. >>> how much wood cay woodchuck chuck? -- can a woodchuck chuck? i am sure you never wondered how many ice cream a woodchuck could chuck. this woodchuck is a pet and his owner gave him the treat for his birthday. everybody should get ice cream on their birthday. >> look at him. >> i know. >> eating away. >> so cute though right. >> very cute. >> happy monday. it's nice to have you back lynette charles. >> thank you. >> hopefully you are returning to good weath

three cities in three days. we're beginning in houston, texas. i'll tell you what, folks, this city has surprised me in the short time with the diversity and culture. we'll chat with the mayor in just a second, but janet put together this piece. >> reporter: white energy companies, transportation, technology and health care are gaining, with more than 92,000 employees, and some 7 million patient visits each year. the texas medical center is the world's largest med center. the cancer center attracts patients and talent from all over the world. >> it's really the people that are here. we have, you know, just a number of hospitals, the size, the scale, it's unparallel, unmatched anywhere else. >> reporter: the unemployment rate hovers just above 6%, well below the national average, driven in part by an explosion in tech jobs and the demand for new and clean energy. it's fueling a population boom. according to the census, some 80,000 moved to houston's county during 2011 and 2012. jim crain has been doing business in houston for 30 years, so bullish

casey stiegel is live in the city of west, texas. casey you've been on the story all morning with us. this is being characterized as a search-and-rescue effort still to find people trapped? >> reporter: patti ann, good morning to you, search-and-rescue, that is the operative phrase that is being bounced around a lot with the local authorities on the ground here because they say, there is still definitely a possibility that there may be survivors trapped under the rubble. it's been a chilly night here. we have a severe thunderstorm that has's been moving in. they say their main mission as of right now is to search for life. so they are going door-to-door to door in this giant swath of this neighborhood in downtown west, texas. not geographically west, but the community, the town of west, texas, about 20 miles north of waco and they're going door-to-door searching for people who may be alive and may need help. before i show you video i want you to get a sense for all the media gathered right here in this spot. we are being really far b

officials say that the area affected by the fertilizer plant explosion in west, texas is safe. city council member steve vanek says that the first wave of residents should have been allowed to move back in yesterday. however they will be under a curfew for the time being. the west fertilizer company exploded on wednesday -- killing fourteen people and injuring dozens more. portions of the town were leveled and dozens of homes were damaged. authorities began inspecting the area on friday. council member vanek has re- assuring words for his community. >> everything is safe. i want to or sure everybody that." safe, safe, and safe". >> thousands of people in denver, colorado yesterday seen scattering after gunshots rang out during a 4-20 celebration. this is the first time the state has hosted such an event since it legalized marijuana. a man and women were shot but are expected to survive. the man's dog was also shot. police are now looking for suspects. witnesses describe the scene as a jovial quickly turned to panic once the shots rang out. the federal defense of marriage act is

some compared it to what a nuclear bomb would look like with a city councilperson from west texas said a four-block radius completely decimated. others compared it to the oklahoma city bombing and, of course, this fertilizer plant making the kind of ammonia-based fertilizer that was used in the oklahoma city bombing. >> interesting note. the oklahoma city bombing, the 18-year anniversary is friday. >> also the same week as the waco, texas, branch davidian situation. waco is about 20 minutes from west texas. some interesting, strange coincidences. >> coincidences right now. nothing that we can say is connected and hundreds of first responders from all over texas did rush to help, and we have abc's jim ryan among the first to arrive at the scene. jim, describe what you're seeing. >> reporter: well, it's obviously dark and it's dusty and it's not smoky anymore. it was smoky earlier. of course, the wind is blowing in the opposite direction toward the plant and that's good news. it's blowing north, which is away from populated areas. if it shifts around to the south, as forecasters say it m

of west texas last week and ask us and peterson why he doesn't want to do what's necessary for having more workplace disasters at this but. let me let me i want to know what no let me ask you a question. here on this board it's never been a debate we have our nights out. the truth is that it's a bad thing there's a gap here it is a race with the idea we talk about the name and we. you know sometimes you see this. story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know how hard it's welcome to the big picture. here is mitt romney trying to figure out of that thing that we americans call i don't. i'm sorry. did i hear what. you said. you know what that is my chair so you want us to feature it on the liberal press. usually. you know we're going to distract us from what you and i should care about because their profit driven industry that's all the fish unless that garbage you call that breaking news i'm having martin and we're going to break the fat.

murrah building in oklahoma city its management never notified the department of homeland security. just two years ago west fertilizer companies ownership reported to the environmental protection agency that there was quote no risk of fire at their west texas strapped occupational safety and health administration last inspected the facility in one thousand nine hundred five and although mobil state and federal agencies cited the plant for various safety problems in recent years it remained open a time bomb waiting to blow up but here's the worst part of the story according to sunlight foundation the agricultural retailers association and the fertilizer institute lobbying groups they represent companies like west fertilizer have spent two point nine million dollars and fourteen point four million dollars respectively over the past fifteen years begging congress to gut fertilizer factory regulations the disaster in texas should be a wake up call to all of us of the importance of fact of regulation the dangers of corporate governance but everyone except austin peterson so after a produ

people in west texas are beginning to return home after that horrific explosion. we see how the town is coping with the disaster >> temperatures are in the '60s and '70s. your forecast, coming up. . >> people in the boston area are breathing a sigh of relief now that the manhunt for the deadly marathon bombers is over. jake tapper ventured out into the city to see how people are feeling after yesterdays lockdown. >> reporter: today, boston tried to get back to normal. this afternoon's red sox game, re-scheduled because of the manhunt was a chance for the city to come together. and the city's most public space, boston common, was alive again after yesterday's eerie quiet. families strolled, relieved to finally have their city back after this week of terror. >> were you angry? >> absolutely angry. little scared for my kids. we haven't told them about it or anything, but definitely angry. as her daughter played at the water's edge, this mother said she could finally exhale. >> it's been terrifying. i mean it's definitely an amazing experience to just feel scared in y

of west texas the latest death toll in that small city is fourteen with more than two hundred injured and some still missing the explosion was so powerful that it destroyed dozens of nearby homes schools businesses including a nursing home across the street from the plant that was completely leveled the people of west texas are returning to their homes today but life won't be returning to normal in that small town anytime soon investigators continue to look for the cause of the devastating explosion and new information is coming out about the plant itself and the level of regulatory scrutiny that it faced leading up to the explosion were news reports that the plant was holding two hundred seventy tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer the sort of stuff used to blow up the federal building in oklahoma city back in ninety four all of that storage of ammonium nitrate should have been reported to the department of homeland security but it wasn't and last week it exploded but really we're just scratching the surface of the regulatory problems with the west texas fertilizer pl

continuing our coverage of the explosion in texas, the city of west sits in a very rural area. and the blast shook the entire community. now you're the details that we know right now between five and 15 people were killed. there could has there could have been as many as 35 that were killed because so many people are missing. with all that damage the rules that literally blew off a lot of these places. >> the railroad tracks in certain areas were basically fuse together the explosion blew the lautrec's right next to each other at the explosion taken place near during school hours and would have an unfortunate situation involving children thankfully that did not happen. >> here at this apartment complex just a pure disaster. this is one of the officials in the area, because the his right here. this is just one of many houses this image that you are looking at right here. again between 5 and 15 people believed to be dead. j.r. stone kron 4 news >> >> pam: the blast shook the entire community. new at six. gives us a closer look at what happened. anger and frustration today. >> the

we have thunderstorms and areas of heavy rain from houston texas up to the city of detroit. a large storm system and on the backside of this like ainsley mentioned we have heavy snow expected anywhere between 8 to 12 inches of snow across central portions of the state of minnesota including cities like minneapolis. keep that in mind through out the day today. it is not a good day for traveling. we have a number of winter storm warnings in effect. where temperatures are hovering around the freezing mark we have the freezing rain coming down and also ice accumulations. an ice storm warning is in effect through the southeastern parts of minnesota talking about slippery roadways so power outages wlbill be a concern out here. sometimes ice can be worse than snow. there's a severe threat width spread across parts of of the ohio valley into the florida panhandle. talking about more tornadoes possible damaging gusts as they head east. heather and patty ann possibly producing flash flooding. >> it is time for the 5@5:00. a terrifying hostage situation comes to an end with the gunman