TEXAS EXPLOSION: Dozens Injured, Many Feared Dead at Fertilizer Plant

An explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday night near Waco, Texas left over 100 people injured and many feared dead.

Overnight, ABC News has confirmed there are a total of 179 people hospitalized. At least two-dozen people are in critical condition with another 38 in seriously injured.

An exact death toll wasn't initially available after the explosion rocked the small town known as West, Texas, located 19 miles north of Waco.

West Mayor Tommy Muska said at 11 p.m. local time that most of the fires caused by the explosion were contained, but the damage from the blast forced the evacuation from 133 people at a nursing home.

One relative searching for a relative, possibly lost in the commotion, said, "It was like a nuclear bomb went off." The blast registered 2.1 on the Richter scale, which measures the intensity of earthquakes.

A large area of the population 2,800 town was damaged and evacuations had been ordered. The injured were initially being treated on the West High School football field, but the triage center had to be moved to a community center because it was too close to a fire at the nearby plant.