The city of Port Arthur has issued a shelter-in-place for residents who live north of Texas Highway 73.

The shelter-in-place was issued about seven hours after an explosion occurred at the TPC Group plant on Texas Highway 136 Spur in Port Neches.

A thick plume of smoke was still streaming southward from the location of the explosion.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is responding to the fire at TPC Facility in Port Neches.

Currently TCEQ staff are conducting handheld monitoring and providing that information to Unified Command. TCEQ will also provide all updates through social media and its Emergency Response Webpage.

Regional staff are continuing to conduct handheld monitoring outside the evacuation zone with Ultraraes. This handheld equipment provides instantaneous readings for various compounds including volatile organic compounds, benzene, lower explosive limit, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, radiation.

No impacts to water quality have been reported.

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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