BREAKING Explosion in Beirut port warehouse...

[jthomas666]

Wait for it...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290675854767513600

 

[NationalTitles18]

Holy cow!

 

[MobtownK]

Wait for it...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290675854767513600

This cannot possibly be just fireworks. Possibly a small nuke?

 

[MobtownK]

About to be a press conference. Don't suppose it was us??

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Years ago, one daughter was working as a raft guide on the Ocoee and the younger was visiting her, staying over night. The were staying at Sunburst on US 64. Unbeknownst to them (or us), there was an illegal fireworks plant up the side road about 1.5 miles. When it went up, they told us that it shook the ground like a bombing run and there was a blast wave. Eleven died. Polk County was so poor, you made a living however you could...

Wiki

 

[Go Bama]

There's a much better video on the NYT page. Probably paywalled. It does have the explosion pattern of a small nuke.

Deadly Explosions Shatter Beirut, Lebanon (Published 2020)

Dozens are dead and thousands hurt. The cause is unclear but the government said “highly explosive materials” had been stored at the blast scene in the Lebanese capital.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Go Bama]

I can't imagine having a fireworks factory in that part of a city. This is a huge disaster.

 

[TexasBama]

That white ball looking thing was the atmosphere being compressed by the concussion to the point the atmosphere reaches the dewpoint at that pressure.

If it was fireworks, it was a boatload.

 

[2003TIDE]

If it was fireworks, it was a boatload.

I'm seeing reports it was literally that. A cargo ship full of fireworks in the harbor.

 

[MobtownK]

Apparently, Hezbollah has been using this port for weapons shipping. So nitrate - could be from weapons, either confiscated, or stored. Army appears to be saying it was confiscated materials.
Or it could have been the Israelis - destroying a weapons depot.
Israel & Hezbollah both deny.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290699523619278849

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290695973522550786

 

[TexasBama]

I'm seeing reports it was literally that. A cargo ship full of fireworks in the harbor.

Shades of the SS Grandcamp

 

[NationalTitles18]

Years ago, one daughter was working as a raft guide on the Ocoee and the younger was visiting her, staying over night. The were staying at Sunburst on US 64. Unbeknownst to them (or us), there was an illegal fireworks plant up the side road about 1.5 miles. When it went up, they told us that it shook the ground like a bombing run and there was a blast wave. Eleven died. Polk County was so poor, you made a living however you could...

Wiki

My dad worked at the Hercules powder plant (later Ireco) in Bessemer. He was there for two explosions, including one on Halloween night, 1979. We were 20 miles away (as the crow flies) at an outside event when it blew. Not a cloud in the sky and my mother, knowing what had happened intuitively, quickly gathered us up and we headed home to wait on news. Windows were blown out miles away. He had been scheduled to work that night in the building where the explosion happened but had traded off with someone else at their request. It was the "dope house" that blew that night, meaning lots of nitroglycerin instead of gunpowder.

As we anxiously waited to hear something we watched the news. As we did so we were relieved to see my dad walking "aimlessly" behind the reporter on scene. It was his way of letting us know he was OK since he could not yet call. (He had a knack for getting on TV but that's another story )

My dad stayed on until Ireco shut it down and was one of the last to be let go.

There were likely thousands of pounds of explosive material there in Beirut. I'm not surprised at all at the shock wave or severity of the blast.

 

[NationalTitles18]

Another angle:

 

[TexasBama]

I don't think the 2nd blast was fireworks. Too big, and fireworks likely wouldn't light off all at once to make that big of a pop..

 

[jthomas666]

I don't think the 2nd blast was fireworks. Too big, and fireworks likely wouldn't light off all at once to make that big of a pop..

FWIW, Lebanese officials are saying it was confiscated munitions.

 

[NationalTitles18]

I don't think the 2nd blast was fireworks. Too big, and fireworks likely wouldn't light off all at once to make that big of a pop..

May depend on if they were packaged or in the process of being made from source material, but if reports of munitions are accurate then that solves it.

 

[Go Bama]

Deadly Explosions Shatter Beirut, Lebanon (Published 2020)

Dozens are dead and thousands hurt. The cause is unclear but the government said “highly explosive materials” had been stored at the blast scene in the Lebanese capital.

www.nytimes.com

The government had stored “highly explosive materials” at the blast scene on the Lebanese capital’s waterfront. Extensive damage was reported around the city and hospitals were overwhelmed with victims.


Lebanon’s health ministry said that at least 70 people had died and 3,700 suffered injuries in the explosions and fire that shook Beirut on Tuesday.
The numbers climbed steadily through the day, and with the wounded still streaming into hospitals and the search for missing people underway, they were likely to go higher still.
The secretary-general of the Kataeb political party, Nizar Najarian, was killed in the blast, and among those injured was Kamal Hayek, the chairman of the state-owned electricity company, who was in critical condition, the news agency reported.


“Highly explosive materials,” seized by the government years ago, were stored where the explosions occurred, said Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security service, according to the National News Agency.
President Michel Aoun later confirmed that explosive substances were held there. Neither of them said what those materials were, but General Ibrahim warned against getting “ahead of the investigation” and speculating about a terrorist act.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in a televised statement, “Facts on this dangerous depot, which has existed since 2014 or the past six years, will be announced.”
“What happened today will not come to pass without accountability,” Mr. Diab said. “Those responsible will pay a price for this catastrophe.” he said. “This is a promise to the martyrs and wounded people. This is a national commitment.”
At least one explosion, at about 6 p.m., stemmed from a fire at a warehouse at Beirut’s port, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
There were local reports that the warehouse contained fireworks, and in several videos posted online, colored flashes could be seen in the dark smoke rising from the fire, just before the second explosion.

 

[jthomas666]

Perspective for the day:

Timothy McVeigh used about two tons of ammonium nitrate to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Reports are that the warehouse in Beirut had upwards of 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate.

I'm surprised there isn't just a big crater where Beirut used to be.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290756807909089280

 

[TexasBama]

Perspective for the day:

Timothy McVeigh used about two tons of ammonium nitrate to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Reports are that the warehouse in Beirut had upwards of 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate.

I'm surprised there isn't just a big crater where Beirut used to be.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290756807909089280

The link I posted above, the Grandcamp, had about 8500 tons of ammonium nitrate onboard. The blast was estimated to be about 3.2 kilotons of TNT, or about 20% of the Hiroshima bomb.

 

[MattinBama]

There are a lot of different angles being posted on reddit & Twitter. Crazy looking explosion.

Death toll at 50 officially last I saw. Will be amazed if it doesn’t skyrocket from what I’ve seen so far.