Watching the big chemical fire outside of Houston tonight takes me back to my youth and the great Standard Oil Refinery explosion in Whiting, Indiana in late August of 1955. I was 7 years old staying with my brother Jim (8) & cousin Ken (8) at my Grandfather's house only a mile from the refinery. Shortly after daybreak, there was a tremendous explosion that shook the house & broke every window in the building. I remember my Grandfather coming upstairs to carry us down the stairs and outside where we could see this huge pipe that had slammed into the building and punctured the heating oil tank in the basement. Why that didn't explode and why we all didn't die that day is still a mystery to me. The blaze lasted 8 days blowing up fuel tank after fuel tank with the damage totaling over $30 million in 1955 dollars. Two people did die, one a 3 year child. I would not be surprised to see the Houston fire continue with so many fuel tanks involved. Hopefully the death toll will be as small or smaller?
What is it with these cloudy days? Yea, we see some sun from time to time, but at best it's filtered. A weak front will sag thru later tonight with another one Wednesday night. They will keep temperatures below normal (72) for the next several days. The good news is we should see more sunshine for Tuesday-Friday with a warm up coming for this weekend. Our next rain chance doesn't happen until Sunday PM, hopefully after the big Irish-Italian parade in Metairie. Stay tuned!
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