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A large series of explosions has rocked a gas plant in Lake County, causing multiple injuries and forcing the evacuations of residents up to several miles away, authorities said.
"I heard a loud bomb sounds," said Lisa Garner, 43, who lives in Lakeside, a Tavares subdivision near County Roads 461 and 448. "I thought somebody ran into my house."
A large series of explosions has rocked a gas plant in Lake County, causing multiple deaths and injuries and forcing the evacuations of residents at least a mile away, authorities said.
A night shift crew was working, and many people are thought to have been killed, said Lt. John Herrell, a Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman. "There's going to be a lot," Herrell said.
The explosions began a little before 11 p.m. at Blue Rhino, a propane-tank business at 300 C.R. Road 448, and lasted for more than half an hour.
Twenty-four people were working the night shift, and 10 people are unaccounted for, Tavares City Administrator John Drury said. The number of injured was not immediately known
Additional explosions are sporadically occurring as individual cylinders blow up due to heat from the fire, sending shrapnel flying. The facility is believed to hold some 30,000 tanks in total.
Another section of the plant is also on fire.
Firefighters say it is currently unsafe for them to approach the site.
Enormous explosions were continuing at 12:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, more than an hour and a half after the first blasts were reported.
Don Ingram, former plant production supervisor at the plant, said his son felt one of the explosions in their home 6 miles away.
Ingram told WESH that the back area of the plant is "lined with propane tanks stacked four or five high on plastic pallets."
Originally posted by AthiestJesus
They evacuate the area right ? ......... how long for ? ..... long enough to bug the tish out of the surrounding homes ?
Tavares City Administrator John Drury told the newspaper 10 of 24 people working at the plant have not been accounted for after the blasts.