YAZOO CITY, Miss. — An explosion at a hydrogen and nitrogen plant in Mississippi on Wednesday caused an ammonia leak and forced local residents to evacuate, officials said.
Governor of Mississippi Tate Reeves said in a post on social media platform X that emergency personnel from across the state were responding to an anhydrous ammonia leak at the CF Industries plant north of Yazoo City.
According to him, no deaths or injuries have been reported.
“Thank you to all first responders and emergency managers in Mississippi for their quick response to the leak,” he said.
Photos and videos posted online showed a large plume of yellowish smoke rising from the site, which includes an ammonia plant and four nitric acid plants, among others.
The site may store about 48,000 tons of ammonia, although the exact amount there when the explosion occurred was not immediately clear.
In a statement, CF Industries said there were no injuries and “all employees and contractors who were on site at the time of the incident are accounted for safely.”
Andre Robinson, who lives about a half-mile (800 meters) from the site, said he and his son were preparing to make gumbo when he heard a sound that sounded like a sonic boom or a tree falling on his house.
“There was a crash and then the house shook,” he said.
When he looked outside, Robinson said he saw smoke rising from the property and smelled a strong odor of ammonia.
“We're used to the smell of ammonia, but it's not that bad,” he said, adding that his family has since evacuated to Jackson.
A portion of U.S. Route 49E was temporarily closed, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said in a post on X that “air monitoring operations are ongoing and will continue as long as necessary to ensure public safety.”
According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer to provide nitrogen to corn and wheat plants. If a person touches it while it is in gaseous or liquid form, they may get burned.
Yazoo City is a small community about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Jackson.
