A Brand New Day: Port Elizabeth is
a human city with a heart. The
locals give visitors a welcome as warm as the weather. Families,
professionals and investors from other centres are increasingly
"Packing for Port Elizabeth. Available from Fogarty's Bookshop.
A Foretaste of Port Elizabeth's Tank Farm Exploding
www.MyPE.co.za: The
Port Elizabeth Tank Farm next to the Manganese Ore Dump in the harbour
not only poses a potential environmental threat but also a potential
disaster area of major proportions.
Tons of fuel are stored there and a pipeline for avgas from the tank
farm to the Port Elizabeth Airport is also a major concern as it
appears that the amount of fuel being pumped from the tank farm does
not tally with the amount of fuel being delivered to the airport.
There is always much speculation from our residents looking for the
answer to; "What if the tank farm explodes?"
On the 16th of May 2009 in Lamesa, Texas, United States a tank farm
exploding was caught on film by storm chaser, David Drummond. The tank
farm appears to be much smaller than Port Elizabeth's but one can
imagine the potential for disaster stored in Port Elizabeth's tank
farm. After all, to quote the South African naysayers; "We live in a
3rd world country and it is only a matter of time before we have a
major disaster!" Well, I have news for you - it has already happened,
and in
a first world country!
"After chasing a wicked hail storm last night in Dawson County (it
hailed for an hour and 15 minutes straight!) I heard the call go out
for a tank battery fire that was most likely started by
lightning. I thought it might make for some good news
footage, but little did I know what was in store!
About 45 minutes into shooting the event, Lamesa and Andrews
firefighters appeared almost have the blaze out, when a relief valve
appears to pop off, ignite, and quickly the tank and nearby tanks
exploded in a spectacular fireball!
I was 200 yards away and a piece of 4 inch pipe about a foot and a half
long with a cutoff valve on it came through the air like a missile in a
high enough arc that it cleared the power lines next to me in impact
the front of my vehicle, causing extensive damage! I was
standing 4 feet from the impact point! I could hear other
debris raining down around me, and if you listen for it, you can hear
it hit my vehicle and the other stuff falling around me.After chasing a
wicked hail storm last night in Dawson County (it hailed for an hour
and 15 minutes straight!) I heard the call go out for a tank battery
fire that was most likely started by lightning. I thought it
might make for some good news footage, but little did I know what was
in store!
About 45 minutes into shooting the event, Lamesa and Andrews
firefighters appeared almost have the blaze out, when a relief valve
appears to pop off, ignite, and quickly the tank and nearby tanks
exploded in a spectacular fireball!
I was 200 yards away and a piece of 4 inch pipe about a foot and a half
long with a cutoff valve on it came through the air like a missile in a
high enough arc that it cleared the power lines next to me in impact
the front of my vehicle, causing extensive damage! I was
standing 4 feet from the impact point! I could hear other
debris raining down around me, and if you listen for it, you can hear
it hit my vehicle and the other stuff falling around me."
Lamesa is a sparsely populated city of just on 9 200 residents.
The fire started after a bolt of lighning struck one of the tanks and
burned for nine hours before being completely extinguished. Fire
Service Manager for the City of Lamesa, Kendall Amos, said; "Really
what
was going through my mind was not that I'm going to die, but that I'm
going to get burned and have to live."
