Look familiar?

N and I had been at our friend's place all night last night studying and watching movies, and we were still awake at 6am. We suddenly heard a rumbling (like thunder) followed by the sounds of an explosion. The doors and TV stand rattled. We freaked out for a second but then just assumed it was a sonic boom. Then half an hour later we happened to put on the news and saw that it was a huge explosion at an oil depot in Hemel Hempstead, northwest of London. By noon the smoke cloud reached central London and, since today was supposed to be a clear and sunny day, we could clearly see the dark clouds starting to hover over the city. It was extremely reminiscent of 1991 in Kuwait. It got worse as the day progressed; obviously now that the sun is down I can't tell how bad it is, but it's expected to last a few more days minimum. Supposedly only people with known respiratory problems might be effected, but they still haven't tested the pollution to see what kind of toxins might be in it. The worst part is that it's supposed to rain in a couple of days and they are expecting black soot and rain to fall. Ugh.