Fertilizer Plant Explosion Levels Part of The Town of West, Texas

UPDATE 12:35a, April 18, 2013

The damage inside of the town of West, Texas is described as "catastrophic" after a fire and explosion at the West Fertilizer Plant .  The USGS registered the explosion as a 2.1 magnitude seismic event, just before 8pm Wednesday night.

Area hospitals reported treating slightly more than 120 people injured by the blasts.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Gail Scarborough had earlier put the number of injured near the plant even higher -- 200 people, 40 of them critically.

Besides the injuries, 75 to 100 houses and business were completely destroyed in and around the plant, Scarborough said.

"It's total chaos," West City Councilwoman Cheryl Marak said, according to ABC News Radio. "There's ambulances and fire trucks and police cars from everywhere."

A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety says an unknown number of people were killed in a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco.

Trooper D.L. Wilson says it will be some time before authorities know the full extent of the loss of life and damage caused by Wednesday night's blast at the plant in West, about 20 miles north of Waco.

Information from the Associated Press used in this report

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Story, originally posted on KFYO.com

A fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas caught fire and exploded Wednesday evening.

According to WFAA-TV in Dallas, the blast occurred at the West Fertilizer plant at 1471 Jerry Mashek Drive, about a half-mile east of Interstate 35 around 8 p.m.

Numerous buildings have been damaged and a number of people injured according to various reports.

Just after 10 p.m., Governor Rick Perry released the following statement, "We are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident. We have also mobilized state resources to help local authorities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, and the first responders on the scene.”

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UPDATE: FOX 44 in Waco has a video with the plant's explosion  http://www.kwkt.com/news/caught-camera-fertilizer-plant-explosion-near-waco

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UPDATE 10:30p:  During live coverage, CBS 11 in Dallas reported the explosion at the plant was dry fertilizer: ammonium nitrate.  Early casualty reports are 60 people killed and 100 injured.