The EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory catalogued 1,816 sites with harmful pollution in the state of Texas in 2015; 495 of those fall within the greater Houston metropolitan area, responsible for a cumulative 1.5 billion pounds of toxic waste a year. Many of these sites rely on containment ponds and storage tanks where hazardous materials are held until they can be treated and discharged — but as the storm overwhelmed infrastructure and flooded these sites, those concentrated pools of toxins were likely mixed into the floodwaters.
-Creosote
-Benzene
-Sulfur dioxide
-Oil
-Dioxin