Not sure if it had been posted yet or not but apparently a massive set of explosions went off in a port in Beirut. The port is basically gone... building had windows, doors, and balconies blown to pieces miles from the blast.
The initial blast was small.. the 2nd blast sent up a mushroom cloud and a massive pressure wave.
People on the ground reporting windows blown from buildings 10km from the site.
One of those clips, 8 second and forwards you can see multiple small explosions before the big boom. So the location could be fireworks factory but I don't think whatever blew up would be deemed legal here during new year's eve.
Evaluating the BDA from the Google earth imagery resembles the effects of a WW2-era 4000-lb. AN/M56 General-Purpose bomb, aka "block buster" which we also dropped over Haiphong harbor from B52s.
This video was probably taken from ~1.3-1.4km away. You can see the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in the bottom left corner which is almost exactly 1km from the blast. Flash-to-Bang was about 3.5 to 4 seconds... which @343 m/s is in that same ballpark.
Didn't look like there was any glass on the floor nor did I hear any glass break in that video, so well under 1 psi at 1.4km.
Mind boggling! I'm guessing a chemical plant exploded but who knows. It'll be interesting to find out more. Certainly, many had to die in such a blast.
I was watching a couple videos and you could see what looked like fireworks going off in the middle of the building that was on fire. Then the big explosion.
I was watching a couple videos and you could see what looked like fireworks going off in the middle of the building that was on fire. Then the big explosion.
Hoping to get more reporting from the scene, that is such a very dense area, lots of embassies. One does have to wonder how come so much explosives are there.
I just saw this on a news feed and checked in here.
I haven't had time to process it, and literally jumped when the big boom went off. I was not expecting that.
My impulsive guess is some sort of illicit munitions factory. You could see large singular explosions within the major fire, and them "kaboom." Followed by a mushroom and shockwaves. That is a release of a lot of energy.
Maybe nitrates, maybe fertilizer, I'm not an expert, but it seems like munitions grade whatever...
It was like a little mini Texas City explosion. That was in 1947.
There were 2 like this at the Naval munitions plant in my state back in the 40s. One blew a 550 ft long by 220 ft wide by 50 ft deep crater and the big one blew up a building and train load of munitions while damaging buildings 15 miles away. Not many people were killed because they were located out in the middle of nowhere on 75 acres.
It looks like fireworks in the building in Lebanon, but who knows for certain. Whatever it was, they stacked too much of it in one place. But these types of explosions have been happening for almost a century.
Longer if you count the explosions that have happened on purpose.
I lost a 1st cousin, 1x removed, "my great grandparents grandson" in the Texas City blast, his name was Haskell Thomas Sargent and I have a pic of his headstone. My mother was only 6 when that happened and she has told me several stories of when my grandparents and other relatives got the news and how they reacted. It has been reported that between 500 to 600 were killed and thousands were injured.
Reading through twitter, Lebanese TV is reporting that the explosion was from 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate that was being stored in a warehouse. Apparently, they were using a torch to seal the building and prevent theft?
The Texas City explosion was 2200 tons of ammonium nitrate in the first explosion and then another ship exploded and some refineries burned.
Lebanese TV station reporting “early information” that 2700 tons of seized ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut port. In 1947, the Texas City disaster involved 2200 tons of nitrate — and it caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history
Reading through twitter, Lebanese TV is reporting that the explosion was from 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate that was being stored in a warehouse. Apparently, they were using a torch to seal the building and prevent theft?
The Texas City explosion was 2200 tons of ammonium nitrate in the first explosion and then another ship exploded and some refineries burned.
AN is about 32% (a separate source said 42%) as effective as TNT in converting it's mass to energy.
So there you go... if you ever wanted to know the rough blast effects for a terrorist's ~2.5 kt improvised nuclear weapon... you just witnessed them. Blast is about 50% of the total yield. A 2.5 kt nuke will release 50% of its energy as blast (1.25 kt blast yield).
The same thing that caused a similar blast in Texas City decades ago. Thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate. That blast has always interested me. I guess seeing this one on video has put that into scale.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Survivalist Forum
11.6M posts
167.1K members
Since 2007
A forum community dedicated to survivalists and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, gear, DIY projects, hobbies, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!