Texas City disaster

The Port of Texas City is a major deepwater port in Texas City, Texas at Galveston Bay, United States. Its location on the bay, which is used by the Port of Houston and the Port of Galveston, puts Texas City in the heart of one of the world's most important shipping hubs. As of 2008 the Port of Texas City was the 14th leading port in the United States by total tons of trade and as of 2007 it was the 87th leading port in the world, according to the American Association of Port Authorities.

The Texas City Dike is a levee located in Texas City, Texas, United States that projects nearly 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east into the mouth of Galveston Bay. It is flanked by the north-eastern tip of Galveston Island and the south-western tip of the Bolivar Peninsula. The dike, one of the area's most beloved and enduring landmarks, was originally designed to reduce the impact of sediment accumulation along the lower Bay.The Bay itself connects the Houston Ship Channel, one of the nation's most important commercial waterways, and the Port of Houston with the Gulf of Mexico 35 nautical miles (65 km) distant. However, as Texas City expanded from its industrial roots to become a thriving residential community, the dike's purpose changed, and it became the city's best hope against a catastrophic incursion of water surging westward into the low-lying community from a hurricane landfall in the Bay. It was hoped that the dike, Texas City's primary defense against potential encroachment of water from Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, would lessen or even entirely deflect substantial damage to the city from such a potentially cataclysmic event. The Texas City Dike juts out into Galveston Bay on the easternmost end of Texas City. The dike is parallel to and north of the 50-foot deep, 600-foot wide Texas City Channel, which allows shipping traffic to access the Port of Texas City. The dike's structure consists of a 28,200-foot-long (approximately 5.34 miles) pile dike paired with a rubble-mound dike that runs along the south edge of the pile dike (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2007). The Texas City Dike was built to protect the Texas City Channel from cross currents and excessive silting, although the channel must still be dredged frequently to prevent shoaling in the waterway.

Texas City High School (TCHS) is a public high school in Texas City, Texas, in the Greater Houston area. It is one of two high schools in the Texas City Independent School District (TCISD), the other being La Marque High School. The main school building for Texas City High opened in 1952. Another building for Texas City High opened in 1957, and the previous one became Blocker Junior High School.As of September 2021, Texas City High School had 1,791 students.

Galveston County ( GAL-vis-tən) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located along the Gulf Coast adjacent to Galveston Bay. As of the 2020 census, its population was 350,682. The county was founded in 1838. The county seat is the City of Galveston, founded the following year, and located on Galveston Island. The most-populous municipality in the county is League City, a suburb of Houston at the northern end of the county, which surpassed Galveston in population during the early 2000s.Galveston County is part of the nine-county Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land (Greater Houston) metropolitan statistical area.

Galveston Bay Refinery, also known as Marathon Texas City Refinery, is an oil refinery operated by Marathon Petroleum within the Texas City, Texas Industrial Complex on the edge of Galveston Bay. With a capacity 593,000 barrels per day, it was the second-largest petroleum refinery in Texas and third-largest in the United States circa 2008, and the eighth largest refinery in the world circa 2018.The refinery was established 1931 as Republic Oil refinery. In 2018 it merged with Marathon's other refinery in Texas City into a single refining complex.In 2021, it was the greatest emitter of the carcinogen benzene into the United States environment, among all refineries in the country.

The Texas City refinery explosion occurred on March 23, 2005, when a flammable hydrocarbon vapor cloud ignited and violently exploded at the isomerization process unit of the BP oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers, injuring 180 others and severely damaging the refinery. All the fatalities were contractors working out of temporary buildings located close to the unit to support turnaround activities. Property loss was $200 million ($300 million in 2024). When including costs of repairs, deferred production, fines and settlements, the explosion is the world's costliest refinery accident. The direct cause of the accident was the ignition of a heavy hydrocarbon vapor cloud which emanated from raffinate liquids overflowing from the top of a blowdown stack. The source of ignition was probably a running vehicle engine. The release of liquid followed the automatic opening of a raffinate splitter column overpressure protection caused by overfilling. Subsequent investigation reports by BP, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), and an independent blue-ribbon panel led by James Baker identified numerous technical and organizational failings at the refinery and within corporate BP.

Robinson Stadium is a baseball stadium located in Texas City, Texas. The stadium seats 1,800 people. It was home to the Bay Area Toros of the Continental Baseball League as well as the Texas City High School baseball team.

Texas City is a city in Galveston County in the U.S. state of Texas. Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and petrochemical-manufacturing center. The population was 51,898 at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in Galveston County, behind League City and Galveston. It is a part of the Houston metropolitan area. The city is notable as the site of a major explosion in 1947 that demolished the port and much of the city.

Moses Lake is a lake located near Texas City, Texas, US, in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area. It is fed by Moses Bayou and drains into Galveston Bay.

Bayou Vista is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,537 at the 2010 census. It received severe damage from Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008.

Tiki Island is a village in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 968 at the 2010 census.

The George and Cynthia Mitchell Memorial Causeway is a set of causeways in Galveston, Texas, United States. Two of the routes carry the southbound and northbound traffic of Interstate 45, while the original causeway is restricted to rail traffic. It is the main roadway access point to Galveston Island. The second access point is Bolivar Ferry. The causeway carries traffic over Galveston Bay and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The original causeway was built in 1912 and carried both rail and auto traffic. The auto traffic was transferred to new causeways built to the west in 1939, leaving the original bridge for rail traffic. The original route was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.