Page 11 - Explosion Site News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> ambassador, i really do appreciate you taking the time to call in and it's a very sad day for the czech republic and for west. this little town in texas. an extraordinary connection. i can quite understand from talking to you why it matters so much to you and to your people. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> the blast at the fertilizer plant is still very volatile. want to go to cnn's chief medical correspondent, sanjay gupta, who was given access to the devastation zone. >> reporter: as soon as you come into the community, xh we've been allowed to do, no one else has...

With dr. george smith. the devastation is immense. that's how texas attorney general greg abbott summed up the damage from last night's blast. he described railroad tracks fused together by the force and heat of the explosion. the apartment complex, destroyed. little farther from the plant, windows and doors blown off houses, even miles away. the people inside had no warning. officials have cordoned off the disaster zone. our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, got inside for a little bit today and here's some of what he saw. >> reporter: as soon as you come into the community which...

Devastated. the rescue workers went through and they put xs on some of these homes to basically show that a search and rescue had occurred there and that people had gotten out of that particular home. but it was somewhat eerie. again, there are probably neighborhoods closer to the explosion site or at least areas that were more significantly affected but i think you see the school there, piers, that's a picture of the school that is an intermediate school. it's a brick structure and you can see just how that outer layer sort of was torn away and the roof was torn away as well. quarter mile awa...

Doors blown in, but some of the houses were not as damaged as others, and that was also a little bit reminiscent of katrina or tornadoes, where certain swaths, several houses in a row, really affected and then a couple not as much. but there was a stillness about it, you know. kids' toys still scattered around and some cars around, but some obviously damaged, tipped over. it had that feel. >> obviously we do not know at this point what it was that caused this blast. it is being investigated. but that may take months, authorities were saying today. last night, there had been a lot of concern ab...

They haven't been able to go back since they were evacuated. >> no. they won't let us back to the houses. >> it is amazing how this community is pulling together. people handing out free food in the bakery, people collecting clothes in the pharmacy just down the block. this is a close-knit community that's really pulling together. >> yes. we're a community of 2500 and everybody knows everybody else and we're here to cry together, support each other together. >> yeah. well, dr. smith, i'm so sorry for all you're going through. i appreciate you talking. >> thank you very much. >> jill jenkins, t...