SpaceX’s starship kicked up a cloud of dust, leaving Texans in a mess

When the most powerful rocket ever built launched from its launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, the launch shook the earth and kicked up a billowing cloud of dust and debris, shaking houses and raining down brown dirt for miles.

In Port Isabel, a town about six miles northwest where at least one window was shattered, residents were alarmed.

“It was really terrifying,” says Sharon Almaguer, who was home with her 80-year-old mother at the time of the launch. During previous launches, Ms. Almaguer said she had experienced some tremors in the brick house, but “this was on a whole other level.”

Meanwhile, SpaceX’s spaceship exploded minutes after launch and before reaching orbit. Near the launch site, the residents of Port Isabel, known for its towering lighthouse and less than 10 miles from the border with Mexico, were left to sort out the mess.

Pretty much everywhere in the city “ended up with a covering of a pretty thick, gritty grain of sand that just landed on everything,” Valerie Bates, a spokeswoman for Port Isabel, said in an interview.

Pictures posted on social media residents’ cars covered with brown debris.

According to the owner, Luis Alanis, a window in a gym was broken. Mr Alanis, who was at home at the time of the launch, said he felt “rumbling”, sort of like a mini-earthquake. He estimated the window would cost about $300 to repair.

Closer to the launch site, large pieces of rubble were recorded flying through the air and crashing into an empty car.

Louis Balderas, the founder of Lab Padrewho films SpaceX’s launches said that while it was normal to see some debris, smoke and dust, the impact of Thursday’s launch was unlike anything he’d ever seen.

“There were bowling ball-sized chunks of concrete flying out of the launch pad,” Balderas said. The blast, he added, had created a crater that he estimated was about 7.5 meters deep.

In a statement on Facebookthe City of Port Isabel said the Cameron County Emergency Management Department confirmed the dust was “sand and soil from near the SpaceX launch site thrown into the air by the force of the launch.”

On Thursday, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr closure from Boca Chica Beach and part of State Highway 4 until 2 p.m. Friday “to protect public health and safety while clearing irregularities.”

Ms Bates, Port Isabel’s spokeswoman, said there was no “immediate concern for people’s health” based on current information.

Eric Roesch, an environmental compliance and risk assessment expert who has monitored SpaceX’s rocket launches, said in an interview that he and others have long warned of the environmental risks to the surrounding region. But without a chemical analysis of the dust and debris, he added, it was hard to tell whether or not they were harmful to human health.

But, said Mr. Roesch, “the presence of that dust indicates to me that the impact modeling was inadequate because it wasn’t really revealed as a potential impact.”

In June, an environmental assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that SpaceX’s plans for orbital launches would have “no significant impact” on the Gulf Coast region.

Mr. Roesch, who manages the environmental policy blog ESG dog, said he believed the dust and debris came largely from a giant crater formed during the rocket’s launch. Normally large launch sites are designed with a trench or water system that helps direct the rocket’s flame away from the ground and dampen the impact, he said.

“They didn’t,” he said. “Looks like they just went ahead and just launched this thing.”

The FAA said in a statement Friday that Space X’s “anomaly response plan” had been activated.

In the outlined plan SpaceX is responsible for evaluating the situation and informing the appropriate authorities.

If an event causes debris in the area where the rocket lifted off, the plan says the company would need to get a special emergency use permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and access to the area may be restricted.

The FAA said SpaceX is obligated to ensure “any ground safety and flight hazards do not pose an unacceptable risk to the public during licensed operations.”

SpaceX did not respond to questions about the dust and debris Thursday night.

Ms. Almaguer, a Port Isabel resident, said while Elon Musk’s venture had brought jobs to an economically distressed region, the brown mud that covered her town was a reminder of the environmental drawbacks and a sign that things could be off. had gone hand in hand.

“The locals are just being sacrificed here,” she said.

“He just wanted to get this thing up and running,” Ms. Almaguer said of Mr. Musk. “Everyone is more or less doomed.”

McKenna Oxenden reporting contributed.