HOUSTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - TPC Group's Houston

petrochemical plant was shut by a power outage on Monday as a

line of thunderstorms moved over the area, according to notices

posted by the company.

A large plume of black smoke was produced by the plant as

the safety flare system was used to burn off hydrocarbons that

could be processed normally because of the outage, according to

local media reports.