Severstal Evacuates for Second Time in 24 Hours After Pipe Explodes

Severstal Dearborn was evacuated Friday morning for the second time in a 24-hour span, according to representatives of the south Dearborn steel factory.

A release sent by the company Friday afternoon explained that the plant "experienced an explosion in its cold air pipe connected to the blast furnace stoves" Friday morning, resulting in an evacuation from the area of impact.

No one was injured.

Communications Director Katya Pruett said it's not clear at this time whether Friday's explosion is related to a power outage that affected the entire Rouge Complex Thursday evening.

"When you experience a large industrial power outage, it’s a shock to the system," Pruett explained. "Different things can go wrong. We don’t know the root cause as to what happened this morning."

Pruett said that though the pipe explosion was unexpected, Severstal officials have been monitoring the plant since Thursday night's power outage.

"We are checking the plant ... making sure that everything is stable," she added.

The pipe explosion will affect the steel factory's iron-making processes for an unknown period of time as the area is repaired. However, Severstal's finishing facilities are operating and they are still servicing customers.

"We want to restore it as quickly and safely as possible," Pruett said.