Explosion & mass casualty incident in Middletown, CT. Deaths reported from large blast & fire at power plant.
Deaths and a large number of injuries are reported in an explosion at a power plant in Middletown, Connecticut. Most sources are saying about 100 injured, but WFSB-TV is citing sources saying as many as 250 people have been hurt.
Here are a variety of links and news reports from a story that is developing in Middletown, Connecticut.:
From the AP:
Police are reporting a gas explosion and fire at a power plant in Connecticut.
Several ambulances and fire trucks responded to the explosion on at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown on Sunday, and witnesses say black smoke was visible for miles.
No details were immediately available, but police advised people to avoid the area.
Reached by phone, plant general manger Gordon Holk said he was enroute to the plant, and did want to speculate on the number of injured. He said the plant is a 620 megawatt gas-fired power plant.
We’re hearing reports of an explosion of a gas line by the Kleen Energy plant on River Road. All of Middletown’s fire departments are working at the scene, and Durham, Middlefield, Portland and Cromwell fire departments have been called in to assist.
There are reports of numerous casualties.
Four ambulances and a Life Star helicopter have been called to the scene. Most of River Road has been blocked off. Flames were shooting out of a pipeline at one point, but the gas line has now been shut off.
The incident, which happened around 11:30 a.m., shook most homes in Middletown and as far as Portland.
From the blog, The Middletown Eye:
Former Common Council member Earle Roberts called and left a message that about 11:15 an explosion nearly rocked his house off of it’s foundation on nearby Bow Lane. Roberts said that the force of the explosion nearly tore the roof from his house, and sent a cloud of brown debris into the air above the plant which is under construction, and was scheduled to come on line later this year.
I felt the explosion myself at my house on Pearl Street. It sounded as if something had fallen off of my roof, and onto my porch.
