Editing Texas City, Texas (section)

===1947 Texas City disaster===
[[Image:Txcitydisasterparkinglot.jpg|thumb|Parking lot {{cvt|1/4|mi|m}} from the explosion]]
{{Main|Texas City Disaster}}
The postwar prosperity was interrupted on the morning of April 16, 1947, when the French ship ''Grandcamp'', containing [[ammonium nitrate]] fertilizer, exploded, initiating what is generally regarded as the worst industrial accident in United States history, the [[Texas City disaster]]. The fertilizer manufactured in [[Nebraska]] and [[Iowa]] was already overheating when stored at the Texas City docks. The blast devastated the Monsanto plant and offices, which were immediately across the slip from the ''Grandcamp'', blew away the warehouses, showered shrapnel from the ship in all directions, and ignited a second ship, the S.S.''High Flyer'', docked at an adjacent slip. Released from its mooring by the blast, the ''High Flyer'' rammed a third ship, SS ''Wilson B. Keene'', docked across the slip. Both ships also carried ammonium nitrate fertilizer and were ablaze.  They, too, exploded. In all, the explosions killed 581 and injured over 5,000 people. The explosions were so powerful and intense that many of the bodies of the emergency workers who responded to the initial explosion were never accounted for. The entire Texas City and Port Terminal Fire departments were wiped out.<ref name="HOTO-Benham"/>

The steel-reinforced concrete [[grain elevator]] was pockmarked with shrapnel and the drive shaft of the ''Grandcamp'' was embedded in the headhouse. The ship's anchor was hurled several miles away, where it was discovered embedded in the ground at the PanAmerican refinery. School children and townspeople who were attracted to the smoke also died, and entire blocks of homes near the port were destroyed. People in Galveston {{convert|14|mi|km}} away were knocked to their knees. Surrounding chemical and oil tanks and refineries were ignited by the blast. At least 63 who died and were not able to be identified are memorialized in a cemetery in the north part of town. The Texas City disaster is widely regarded as the foundation of disaster planning for the United States. [[Monsanto]] and other plants committed to rebuilding, and the city ultimately recovered quite well from the accident. Numerous petrochemical refineries are still located in the same port area of Texas City. The city has often referred to itself as "the town that would not die," a [[moniker]] whose accuracy would be tested once again in the days surrounding [[Hurricane Ike]]'s assault on the region early on September 13, 2008.