Explosion at West, Texas

Today’s post was going to be about yarn weights, but I’m a little preoccupied this morning. Things have hit extremely close to home, about 13 miles north of home, if we want to be specific.

Here’s what I do know: At around 8pm, there was an explosion at the fertilizer factory in West, Texas. By the way, as odd as it sounds, the town is actually called West, even though it’s in Central Texas. And to clarify, as many Twitterers and media people are getting wrong, West and Waco are not the same place. The explosion took place in West, not Waco. Thank you, guys. I’ve been getting texts and calls all night with people checking on us.

Anyway, when I went to bed just after 8, only injuries were reported. By the time I woke up, around midnight, there were an estimated 60-70 killed and over 100 injured. Mind you, those numbers have not been confirmed as of the writing of this post. We won’t know more until it’s all over, and it sounds like things are still happening right now.

UDPATE: The numbers are now 5-15. I’m glad to see much lower numbers, though my heart still breaks for those who did lose their loved ones last night, especially as it looks like many were rescue workers.

Here’s what I speculate: It’s not likely to have been a terrorist attack or some violent group. My money is something just sparked. As many movies and TV shows can tell us, fertilizer can be explosive. That doesn’t make any of this easier, of course. Terrorist attack or not, people are dead or hurt. People have lost homes. It’s devastating no matter what way you look at it.

If you’re in the area or just Texas in general, there will likely be blood donation locations set up in the morning. There will also be general donations taken as many people lost everything in this explosion. We’ll be keeping our friends and loved ones in West in our prayers.