Residents of Deer Park, Texas, east of Houston, were told to shelter in place Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, after what the city called a Level 3 incident at the Lubrizol chemical plant in town.
"This is an emergency message from the City of Deer Park. An emergency has occurred and you need to immediately shelter in place," the city's alert said. It went out at about 6:50 p.m. Central time, which was 4:50 p.m. on the West Coast, and told people to go indoors, close all windows and wait for an all-clear.
What is known so far
A chemical odor at the facility was logged on the area's CAER industry alert line around 6:20 p.m. Central, roughly half an hour before the city's alert. The city said it was monitoring the incident, gathering information and would post official updates as they became available, but it did not say what was released, whether anyone was hurt or how long residents would have to stay inside.
Neighboring La Porte and Pasadena sent fire crews to check the air along their borders with Deer Park. Both said the wind was blowing from the southeast, carrying any release away from them. La Porte told its residents they did not need to take any action.
As of 8 p.m. Central, the order was still in effect.
