The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Area investigators remain baffled by the explosive sound in Bridge City shortly after 8 p.m. Monday.

A dispatcher with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office stated officers were searching all over areas of Bridge City and Orangefield.

A Bridge City dispatcher stated it is still under investigation as to the cause and where it occurred.

There were also reports of the sound being heard in parts of Groves and Port Arthur.

Officials with the The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said none of the plants in Orange and Jefferson Counties have reported any type of explosion Monday night. However, Motiva Enterprises LLC’s Port Arthur Refinery experienced a plant-wide power failure Sunday as a result of an electrical malfunction at one of its electrical provider’s substations. As a result of the power outage, emissions and flaring occurred at the 600,000-barrel-a-day refinery’s alkylation unit, and each unit was brought back on line only when it was safe to do so.