An explosion at a Louisville, Kentucky, business on Tuesday sent at least 11 employees to the hospital and prompted residents to shelter in place.
Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported on social media that a “hazardous materials incident” occurred at 1901 Payne Street in Louisville. Officials and online records say the address belongs to a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Color, a maker of food coloring for soft drinks and other products.
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 store. 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 time,” Greenberg said at a news conference. No one was killed in the explosion, he added.
Greenberg said officials spoke with employees inside the plant. “They initially told us that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to a “major incident.”
Louisville Metro Emergency Services initially asked people within a mile of the store to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. As of Tuesday afternoon, evacuation orders were still in place for two blocks surrounding the explosion site.
