Note: This article was originally published in 2016. The Texas Department of Public...
A styrene plant became a roaring inferno on April 16, 1947, in Texas City. Hundreds of other fires started in areas where petroleum was stored.EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was written by former staffer Susan Carroll and was originally published in 2016. Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the 1947 Texas City Disaster, the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history. To honor the 581 victims, a memorial service will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday April 16 at Memorial Park in Texas City.
The explosion sent a fireball into the sky, shrapnel across town and damaged or destroyed more than 1,000 buildings. Jewel Turner, 90, remembers driving through downtown with her uncle and daughter that day and seeing ambulances and"dead bodies everywhere." The explosion ignited a fire on the SS High Flyer, another ship loaded with ammonium nitrate, used to make dynamite and fertilizer. Nearly everyone was evacuated, and the Flyer was towed about 100 feet from the docks before it exploded.
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