From Black Plume to Benzene Fumes, Houston’s Plight Drags On

Now that the four-day fire is out at a Houston-area chemical storage complex, the real danger has emerged.

Cancer-causing benzene was detected in a suburb of the fourth-largest U.S. city for a second morning. School had already been called off for thousands of students but roads and workplaces that were paralyzed for much of Thursday remained open Friday because the toxin appeared to be isolated to a small area. Local authorities refrained from issuing take-cover alerts to residents.

Intercontinental Terminals Co., which owns the chemical storage site that erupted in flames on March 17, said the benzene reading was isolated ...