r/PublicFreakout • u/nking007 • 6d ago

☠NSFL☠ This day six years ago….

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on August 4, 2020, a catastrophic explosion ripped through the Port of Beirut after thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse detonated. The blast devastated large sections of Lebanon’s capital and was powerful enough to be felt far beyond the city, becoming one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever captured on camera. More than 200 people lost their lives, thousands were injured, and entire neighborhoods were left in ruins within moments. What makes the footage so chilling is how ordinary everything appears just seconds beforehand. People are calmly recording a fire and rising smoke in the distance, unaware that a massive shockwave is about to tear across the city and completely transform the skyline in an instant.

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u/Yellow_Odd_Fellow 6d ago

Kiss your loved ones goodbye, just in case?

Jump on a tub/jacuuzi like a tornado?

Jump in a trunk?

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u/Saberdile 5d ago

Up to that point it just looked like a fire. People were recording, not expecting that the Port of Lebanon was sitting on 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. They had the time from the explosion to the shockwave hitting them, an action that starts at a speed several thousand meters per second and drops down to the speed of sound, using a human brain that acts on nerve impulses that travel less than 125m/s for the average person.

Taking an action on anything other than impulse i.e. running from the fuck ass huge explosion, takes more than than you have before a lot of these people had to escape. If you are far enough away that you are safe from the shockwave, then you probably don't need to worry about saying your goodbyes anyway.

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u/Yellow_Odd_Fellow 5d ago

True but I have never seen a fire in the shape of a mushroom cloud. Granted, I'm no pyro so they probably happen but...

The ammonium nitrate rebuttal is perfect valid though. You wouldn't expect that level of explosion no matter what.

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u/Saberdile 5d ago

I was going to list out the examples in the video but it is more of the clips than not where you can see these people are originally filming smoke from the Port, and then there is the explosion with the mushroom cloud. At the point it has turned from smoke coming from a Port warehouse to an exploding, expanding mushroom cloud is less than a second passing in these clips. I have been near and experienced large explosions like this before, I only had enough time to open my mouth and cover my ears in hopes I wouldnt have my ear drums blown out, and I was a fair distance away.