The Texas Department of Public Safety and Attorney General Greg Abbott conducted a flyover and a ground examination of the damage caused by the explosion in West.
In a press conference held at 6 p.m., Abbott said, “the area along the site is total devastation.”
In a press conference Thursday, officials gave an update on the explosion in West.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has declared this a disaster, according to Abbott.
In a press conference Thursday, officials gave an update on the explosion in West.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the families affected by the blast have support from officials.
Police in Texas say between five and 15 people were killed in a fertilizer plant explosion that also injured more than 160 others.
Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said early Thursday morning that the death toll is only an estimate as search and rescue operations remain under way in downtown West.
Fatalities as a result of the explosion in West are confirmed, but a number is not yet known.
At a press conference held just after midnight, D. L. Wilson, Public Information Officer for the Texas State Troopers, confirmed that there had been fatalities but would not confirm a number. When asked on a previously reported death count of 60 to 70, Wilson declined to comment. Wilson did confirm a large number of injuries.
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Saddened by news of explosion in West, Texas. Praying for our neighbors.
Fatalities as a result of the explosion in West are confirmed, but a number is not yet known.
At a press conference held just after midnight, D. L. Wilson, Public Information Officer for the Texas State Troopers, confirmed that there had been fatalities but would not confirm a number. When asked on a previously reported death count of 60 to 70, Wilson declined to comment. Wilson did confirm a large number of injuries.
Following the news of the explosion in West, almost one hundred students and faculty from the Baylor community came together at a student organized candlelight vigil to pray outside of Waco Hall.
The vigil was started by Baylor Sophomore Class President Ben Prado, from Richardson, who tweeted to fellow classmates to meet him in front of Waco Hall at midnight. Prado purchased several candles and lighters and waited for students to join him.
There are confirmed casualties from the explosion in West, but not yet a confirmed number. According to some reports, the number could be as high as 70. Hundreds are injured.
The explosion occurred at West Fertilizer plant in West Wednesday night. Firefighters were responding to a fire at the plant when an explosion went off that rocked the small town. A four-block area around the explosion site is destroyed.
Here is a list of resources of victims of the West, Texas explosion as well as opportunities for the community to respond to provide help and support to those affected by this tragedy.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says state resources have been mobilized to help local authorities after a fertilizer plant explosion near Waco.
The governor released a statement late Wednesday night, saying state officials are “monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident.”
An explosion caused by a fire at a fertilizer plant shocked the city of West tonight. A fire at a fertilizer plant outside of the city of West caused an explosion that rocked the small town causing fires and severe damage to nearby buildings. A nursing home burned to the ground, but everyone inside the building was evacuated. An independent school in the area was partially burned. A house was also destroyed.
An explosion Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant near Waco sent flames shooting high into the night sky, leaving the factory a smoldering ruin, causing major damage at nearby buildings and injuring numerous people.
The blast at the plant in West, a community north of Waco, happened shortly before 8 p.m. and could be heard as far away as Waxahachie, 45 miles to the north.
Authorities say an explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, has injured several people.
A dispatcher with the West, Texas, Fire Department says the explosion happened Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant in the community north of Waco. She says any casualties would be taken to hospitals in Waco.
At 8:29 a.m., Temple High School officials called in a shooting which took place on the exterior of the campus building, according to Brad Sheffield, the school’s director of communications.
The shooting, according to Sheffield, was isolated to one self-inflicted shot. The school immediately went into lockdown to check for any other threats inside the school that has 2,000 students.
Police say a Central Texas high school is on lockdown after a student shot himself with a handgun on campus.
Temple police Cpl. Christopher Wilcox says no one else was injured Tuesday and no other students at Temple High School endangered when the boy, believed to be 15 years old, shot himself. The shooting occurred outside near the school athletic complex.
The H-E-B location at 1102 Speight Avenue will close this year after approximately 40 years of service to the Baylor and surrounding communities.
The store, along with another H-E-B at 1110 South Valley Mills Drive, will close in order to make way for an H-E-B superstore that will open this fall at the corner of Interstate 35 and South Valley Mills Drive.
Baylor will host its seventh annual Heart of Texas Community Tailgate on Saturday.
The event is free and open to the Waco community.
Art on Elm, an annual event that features local artists, aims to bring people in the Waco community together to promote local Waco artists and businesses. The event will be held Saturday by Neighbor Works Waco. The event will display local artists’ work and feature live music from local musicians.
March of Dimes will step up fundraising this weekend to help support research and programs dedicated to infant health.
The nonprofit is hosting a walking event from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday behind the Mayborn Museum at the Governor Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village. The actual walk does not start until 9 a.m., according to Becky Goss-Shepherd, March of Dimes division director in Waco, Temple and Killeen.
A lockdown this morning at Waco’s Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center has been lifted, allowing business to return to normal.
Shortly after 10 a.m. this morning, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco went on lockdown in response to a threatening phone call. The hospital, which is located at 100 Hillcrest Medical Blvd., has been given the all-clear.
Google Inc. picked tech-savvy Austin on Tuesday as the next city where the search giant will wire homes with ultra-fast Internet connections, but did not say how much customers will pay or when the fiber-optic experiment might expand elsewhere in the U.S.
Austin and Kansas City are the only places to get Google Fiber — a broadband service 100 times faster than the competition and an alternative to cable or satellite TV providers.
McLennan County commissioners voted without discussion Tuesday to approve the purchase of 19 military-style rifles for the sheriff’s office, a week after Sheriff Parnell McNamara requested the weapons.
McNamara, who took office in January, described the purchase as a step toward arming his 40 patrol deputies with AR-15-style, M4 Patrolman’s Carbine rifles.
A project under way at the Waco Police Department could better arm responding officers with crucial information before arriving at a crime scene, upping the odds that a suspect will be caught quickly and improving safety for officers and residents, authorities say.
Administrators in the department are evaluating the costs and benefits of creating a Real Time Crime Center. The centers have been established in several metropolitan cities through the years, including Boston, New York, Houston and Austin.
Texas A&M students who want more religious freedoms, or who don’t support a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Resource Center, have many hurdles to clear before they can pocket their dollars.
The Texas A&M student senate late Wednesday voted 35-28 to pass a bill aimed at letting students opt out of funding the center, or other university services, based on religious grounds. Instead, students could keep the money that would traditionally go to organizations to which they object.
One recent Wendy’s customer wanted a lot more than a Baconator.
At 11 p.m. Tuesday night, the suspect, described as a man wearing dark clothing, a hoodie and apparently holding a gun, entered the Wendy’s on 5th st. near Baylor and demanded money from the manager. Shortly later he left with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to Sgt. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department.
A recent outbreak of rabies is putting local pets and their owners in danger.
So far, seven cases, two in Waco, one in Woodway and four in Gatesville, have been confirmed in the area since the year began. The most recent case was confirmed Monday in a skunk found in Woodway, and one bite was confirmed last week.
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara on Tuesday asked county leaders to approve the purchase of 19 AR-15-style rifles to better arm sheriff’s deputies, saying they face a “very grave” threat from heavily armed criminals.
Baylor Law School students and faculty have teamed up with Veterans One Stop, a veterans support facility in Waco, to offer free legal aid.
Veterans One Stop is a coalition of various organizations and agencies that offers aid to veterans and their spouses, said Maggie McCarthy, the coordinator of Veterans Coalition for the Heart of Texas, who is in charge of finding and bringing such organizations together.
