The Oil Drum

50 comments on Giant Blast at UK Oil Terminal

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Essex Land Rover Man on December 11, 2005 - 6:03pm

I can beat that. I am 25 miles east, south east of it. There was a large black cloud covering about half the sky, base level of the cloud must have been about 1,000 feet or higher but not that deep. Couldn't smell anything though. Didn't hear the blast either this morning. I find it hard to believe people in the Netherlands heard the blast. Must be funny atmospheric accoustics. During World War I, the guns firing on the front line in France could be heard in London though.

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WebHubbleTelescope on December 11, 2005 - 8:43pm

This is what I blogged from someone I know that lives maybe 17 miles SE of Hemel Hempstead.

Hemel Hempstead, UK, suffered through a huge oil explosion early this morning. I have visited this area several times and can't imagine what force this powderkeg unleashed. From notes I gathered from someone I know who lives less than 20 miles SE of HH, this thing essentially jolted everyone up, not quite as if an earthquake had occurred, but more like that something had fallen down in the house. The explosion set off a black cloud that moved southeast and then south reaching the outskirts of London in the early evening. The really thick black smoke had the faint whiff of benzene.

Hemel Hempstead resides right off the M1 expressway and has a residential feel with open spaces and farmland. Apparently, most of the buildings had their windows imploded with some roofs going up. The oil depot provided jet fuel to Heathrow and Luton airports (the latter just north of there). The most recent re-fueler truck stationed there happened to escape the major explosion. But cascading explosions also occurred which continued throughout the day.