Lake Charles Chemical Plant on Fire

Laura devastated the western Louisiana coast with 150 mile an hour gusts and huge storm surge.  The hurricane came ashore as a Category 4 after it rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico.  Perhaps the worse damage inflicted by Laura is the fire at BioLab chemical plant in Lake Charles.  The plant is billowing toxic smoke across Interstate 10.[photo credit, Getty Images]  According to records the plant manufactures chlorine based products.  Chlorine is flammable and in certain situations, explosive. In 2019 the plant produced 115 million pounds per year of tricholoroisocyanuric acid, and disodium isocyanurate. When burned the acid releases chlorine gas, which was used as a weapon in WWI. Another facility on the same site manufactures dimethlyl hydrazine, a rocket propellant, for the US government. This plant, owned by the Lonza Group, is already considered to be a major emitter of air pollutants including sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds.

What other damage has the hurricane done?  Ironically, a 1915 confederate

memorial statute that the town voted to keep standing just two weeks ago was toppled to the ground by the hurricane's force. The number of severe hurricanes in the Atlantic has doubled since the 1990s, in conformity with predictions by climate scientists that global warming would intensify storms. LOOK!--at this chart:

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