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Initial estimates were that between 5 and 15 people were killed by the blast, and more than a hundred injured.
Photos and video from last night showed the scale of the explosion and the fire that caused it. Now, in the cold light of day, we can see the devastation wrought on the small town of less than 3,000.
APThis aerial photo shows a view of homes on the North side of the fertilizer plant explosion site Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Near West, Texas. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. The explosion that struck around 8 p.m. Wednesday, sent flames shooting into the night sky and rained burning embers and debris down on shocked and frightened residents. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
APThis aerial photo shows a view of the fertilizer plant explosion, bottom left, and the town of West, Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Near West, Texas. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. The explosion that struck around 8 p.m. Wednesday, sent flames shooting into the night sky and rained burning embers and debris down on shocked and frightened residents. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
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APA piece of debris from a fertilizer plant explosion sits in a field far from the blast zone in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the plant killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/Ralph Lauer)
APThe front of an apartment complex is destroyed after an explosion at a nearby fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. The explosion that struck around 8 p.m. Wednesday, sent flames shooting into the night sky and rained burning embers and debris down on shocked and frightened residents. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
APA destroyed car sits as firefighters conduct a search and rescue of an apartment complex destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
APFirefighter conduct search and rescue of an apartment destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the plant killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
APFirefighters walk a rail line next to fertilizer plant, on right, destroyed by an explosion in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the plant killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
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Erich Schlegel/GettyWorkers with Cen-Tex Roof Systems clean up glass debris and cover a broken window with plywood on April 18, 2013 in downtown West, Texas. The damage was caused by the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West on Wednesday evening
APFirefighter conduct search and rescue the the blast zone destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
REUTERS/Mike StoneThe remains of a fertilizer plant smolder after a massive explosion in the town of West, near Waco, Texas early April 18, 2013. Rescue teams searched the charred rubble of homes in a small Texas city on Thursday for survivors of a fiery explosion at a nearby fertiliser plant that killed as many as 15 people, injured more than 160 and destroyed dozens of buildings.
