Explosion in Beirut

[Labbug]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/explosion-lebanon-capital-beirut

If this is an accident, this is one heck of an accident.

[steve58]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/explosion-lebanon-capital-beirut

If this is an accident, this is one heck of an accident.

Saw some reports saying something about "fireworks", but apparently Hezbollah unofficially controls the port, so I imagine the "fireworks" were military grade.

[SirAndrewD]

Apparently it was a fairly large stock of confiscated military grade explosives. 

Video looks like a nuke went off, but there was clearly a fire and looking like small secondaries at a storage facility right before the detonation.  There are a huge amount of nitrates being dispersed into the air.

They're saying accident but I don't if they can be entirely sure of that yet unless they 100% know the cause of the fire. 

EDIT:  Their PM is saying the conditions at the warehouse were known to be dangerous for a while.  It's been a point of contention since 2014.  And apparently not military grade, but a huge storage of explosive nitrates.

[Yskonyn]

Holy smokes and to think we fly relatively close to that harbour when coming in for landing at the airport.   
I don't want to see the effects of that explosion with its shockwave to low flying aircraft.  :-[

[SirAndrewD]

Would've been bad I would imagine. 

The area around the port looks flattened. 

Images from the PM's house 1.6km away show the heavy wooden doors blown off and windows shattered.

[Gusington]

Those clips are insane. I feel terrible for the people of Beirut and Lebanon in general...they have been through hell the last 40-50 years.

[em2nought]

Holy crap, I bet there were quite a few people who needed a change of pants after that.  :o

[SirAndrewD]

Those clips are insane. I feel terrible for the people of Beirut and Lebanon in general...they have been through hell the last 40-50 years.

Yep.  I was reading a lot of comments from citizens and they're having serious flashbacks to their youth in the wars.  A lot of extra layers of suffering as they've been trying to put that city back together for years now. 

Sad to think that was once the jewel of the eastern Med.   They've suffered enough.

[airboy]

Apparently it was a fairly large stock of confiscated military grade explosives. 

Video looks like a nuke went off, but there was clearly a fire and looking like small secondaries at a storage facility right before the detonation.  There are a huge amount of nitrates being dispersed into the air.

They're saying accident but I don't if they can be entirely sure of that yet unless they 100% know the cause of the fire. 

EDIT:  Their PM is saying the conditions at the warehouse were known to be dangerous for a while.  It's been a point of contention since 2014.  And apparently not military grade, but a huge storage of explosive nitrates.

Halifax, Canada was flattened by a munitions ship explosion in 1917.
A Fertilizer ship explosion in Texas City in 1947 caused huge destruction.

Regretfully, this sort of thing has happened before.

[SirAndrewD]

Halifax, Canada was flattened by a munitions ship explosion in 1917.
A Fertilizer ship explosion in Texas City in 1947 caused huge destruction.

Regretfully, this sort of thing has happened before.

I'm familiar.  The age of social media and the ability to directly and immediately hear the thoughts, loss experiences and pain of the people involved surely makes it more real for people that haven't experienced it.

[MikeGER]

would like to see the fresh before/after satelite pics

this is a cruel kind of unwanted "simulation" what a 1kt or 2kt yield tactical nuke warhead (dialed to ground set off)  would do to a 2020 civil harbor and its surroundings  ???

i dunno how 2,75kt raw Ammonium nitrate relate to a given amount of TNT equivalent, but the shock front is slower, that's why its used for mining (you want to harvest rocks, not rocks blown to dust)
   
so it closer to a 1kt nuke then a 2kt

[Pete Dero]

would like to see the fresh before/after satelite pics

Mapping the Damage From the Beirut Explosion : https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/04/world/middleeast/beirut-explosion-damage.html

[MikeGER]

Thanks Pete  :)
but i see only the before sat pic ... well, its a little to early for the after pic from civilian sources

[Pete Dero]

Thanks Pete  :)
but i see only the before sat pic ... well, its a little to early for the after pic from civilian sources

updated my post

[MikeGER]

 O0