Power outage at petrochemical plant stokes explosion fears, spurs evacuations near Morris

31-May-11

About 100 residents near a petrochemical facility in southwest suburban Morris were evacuated after a power outage stoked fears that a tanker might explode, as per Chicago Tribune. The Grundy County Emergency Operations Center issued an emergency message that said "an incident" had been reported at the Morris Complex for LyondellBasell's Equistar business, and initially evacuated all residents within a 1.8 mile radius of the plant as a “precautionary measure.” Lightning reportedly hit one of the stacks at the facility and caused pressure in a vessel to surge.