A power outage at a chemical plant in south-east Houston triggered flaring and sent a plume of black smoke over the area on Monday afternoon, according to TPC Group.
The incident occurred at the company’s Houston Operations site at 8600 Park Place Boulevard, near Goodyear Drive. TPC said the loss of electricity affected the plant’s boilers, leading to visible smoke from the flare.
The outage was reported at about 3pm local time. TPC said its operations team was working to restore power safely and restart the boilers, which would help reduce the impact of the flaring.
Houston TranStar traffic cameras continued to show smoke near Kress Street at about 4.30pm, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The company said it was carrying out air monitoring in and around the site and had made the required notifications. It said it did not believe the incident had affected workers, nearby residents or the environment.
TPC said the cause of the power failure would be investigated once power had been fully restored. It was not immediately clear how long the flaring would continue.
