GottaSeeThis - A huge explosion has occurred in Beirut

twitter ^ | Aug. 4, 2020

[rlmorel]

Yes. Agreed.

Even if some people (including some on FR oddly enough) feel the need to push the line put out by Al Jazeera that it was a fireworks explosion.

I will consider that it could have been fireworks, but you stated it as baldly as it could be stated why that is probably #5 on any list of probable causes: How many Lebanese fireworks celebrations have we ever seen?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Quite a crater

[Vermont Lt]

A boat load of Ammonium nitrate. Boom!

[rlmorel]

Yes...I agree completely it could have been that. Just looking for a differential diagnosis there.

[sauropod]

Yep.

[SunkenCiv]

2750 (metric) tons (2.7 kilotons) of boomy stuff went up.

...ammonium nitrate has a potentially lethal downside: If it comes into contact with an open flame or other ignition source, it explodes violently. The explosive force occurs when solid ammonium nitrate decomposes very rapidly into two gases, nitrous oxide and water vapor. [LiveScience]

[jeffers]

Fully involved fire in warehouse NE of silo rack, when small arms sized ordnance (grenades, Katushas,RPGs?) begin cooking off in warehouse immediately east of silos, which then went way kinetic, way quick.

Shockwave admirable due to humidity... and a fair sized shock.

Smoke too rusty for potassium chlorate, I suspect old steel drums or shipping containers full of ordnance, pierced by small arms cookoffs, small holes to ignite, much containment...till there wasn't.

Punch up 33.901783,35.518805 in maps for a lay of the land overview, then watch the vids again...see what you come up with.

[Cedar]

This person has interesting comments,,,says “When HMX is heated, it undergoes deflagration, emitting brown smoke.

He says it was an arms depot, missiles from Iran, that were intentionally destroyed...not an accident. Has 3 different posts about it,,,here’s a link to the first one:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1290748019218853890.html

[jeffers]

I won’t argue w any of that, except the still image he has labelled “A second explosion” is lens flare and reflected light from the first few milliseconds of the main detonation. I managed to capture that one myself, a coupla times, freeze-framing thru various videos.

And, I still think the big one originated in that southern warehouse. Key location references to keep track of thru various videos,are the silos (note orientation) and the crane farm, far east side of southern warehouse.

[GulfMan]

Ya, absolutely no way that was fireworks

[GulfMan]

Now I’ll know to duck if I ever see anything like that !

[jeffers]

.FWIW... last vid I watched seems to have... harbor... where that southern warehouse used to be.

[jeffers]

I think he’s on the roof of the silos, or a related substructure immed east of the silos, looking ESE. Note the crane farm in a couple frames, it is visible on Maps.

[jeffers]

Here, you’re looking east, over the tops of the silos, with the grey plume from an early explosion at the silo rack’s northern end.

The major blast begins at 0:03, lighting up the southern face of that earlier plume, then develops around the southern end of the silos.

[jeffers]

You’re looking at the southern (right) and western (left) sides of the silo rack. Immediately east of the southern end of those silos, is either a small flat area, where the southern of two warehouses, and, site of the big blast was, or... the blast made harbor out of the dock that the southern warehouse used to rest on.

[Mr Radical]

This is the best image I've seen so far of the damage:

[mad_as_he$$]

WOW!

[Diogenesis]

from above:

[Diogenesis]

and before the baddaboom:

[McGruff]

Quick Before and after video of the explosion site in Beirut

https://twitter.com/ConflictsW/status/1290967173872209921