At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals and residents were urged to shelter in place after an explosion at a business in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday.
Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported a “hazardous materials incident” at 1901 Payne St. in Louisville on social media. The address is that of a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Color, a maker of food coloring for soft drinks and other products, according to officials and online records.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said emergency teams responded to the explosion around 3 p.m. News outlets reported that neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the business. Overhead news video footage showed an industrial building with a large hole in the roof.
WLKY-TV
“The cause of the explosion is unknown at this point,” Greenberg said at a news conference. He said that no one died in the explosion.
Greenberg said officers spoke to employees inside the plant. “They initially reported that everything was normal when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on the social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to the “large-scale incident.”
Louisville Metro Emergency Services initially urged people within a mile of a business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. Evacuation orders for two blocks around the blast site remained in place as of Tuesday afternoon.