every victim died of fire burns, some people who had jumped into rivers or wells died of hypothermia and some drowned. When the storm was over, 350 bodies were buried in a mass grave which was partly due to the victims being unidentifiable.
The fire didn't stop raging until it had burnt everything in Peshtigo, until there were no more trees to burn. When the town was rebuilt afterwards it wasn't booming as a mill town anymore, as it had been in the past, as all the trees had gone.
Today there is a Peshtigo Fire Museum and a dedicated graveyard for victims of the disaster. On the 8th of October every year, the Peshtigo Historical Society holds a candlelit service in memory of the horrifying event.
This firestorm interested the U.S. military and they began to study the event, as they wanted to know how to create such conditions on enemy soil during World War II.
18 – Russian Heat Wave 2010
Temperatures on 31st July, 2010 in western Russia.
Date: Summer 2010.
Location: Russia.
Disaster Type: Heatwave.
Fatalities: 15,000+ deaths.
Resulting Damage: $15 billion worth of damage + 25% reduction in annual crop production.
In the summer of 2010 Russia experienced a devastating extreme heatwave, which brought extreme drought conditions and record temperatures, the highest recorded temperatures in at least the past 500 years.
A ‘blocking high’ situation caused the heatwave, which is when an area of high pressure intensifies so much so that low pressure systems cannot break it down. A ‘blocking high’ situation may linger on for weeks or sometimes even months.
Temperatures in Russia reached near or above 40 degrees Celsius, which was the type of heat not experienced in Russia since at least the last middle ages. In fact, a record temperature of 44 degrees Celsius was set on 11th July, in Yashkul, Kalmykia, which is the highest ever recorded temperature in Russia. Due to the high pressure weather conditions pollution could not escape, resulting in Russia being enveloped in an inescapable blanket of deadly smog. Carbon dioxide levels were recorded at almost 5 times higher than the maximum level required for safety.
Because of the intense heat, people were jumping into rivers, lakes and canals, resulting in a staggering 1,200 deaths in June alone from drowning, contributing to a total of around 2,000 people who drowned by the end of the heatwave. The main problem was that some people were jumping into water after becoming recklessly drunk, due to Russia’s heavy drinking culture. Many people who had heart conditions, allergies or asthma along with other health issues perished in the combination of unbearable heat and heavy pollution. Russia, as you would guess, was not equipped with air conditioning units as hotter countries are and the people of Russia were not used to high temperatures.
Around 774 – 779 wildfires broke out, with fire crews being overstretched and unable to keep some fires back; Russian troops had to join the fire fighters as reinforcement. Around Moscow dried, carbon-rich peat bogs caught fire and smouldered, adding to the pollution with dangerous fumes. Satellite pictures revealed that the smoke from the numerous fires rose up to ten kilometres in height into the atmosphere. At least 9 million hectares of crops perished as part of a major European heatwave that covered 2 million square kilometres, which is a total area fifty times bigger than Switzerland.
People who could afford it flew out of Russia to escape the situation. Moscow airport recorded the amount of people flying out of the country at around 100,000 people per day at one point.
Some atmospheric scientists worry that what seem like freak heatwave incidents today could become the norm in the near future, where global warming threatens to change natural weather conditions.
19 – Lake Nyos Limnic Eruption
Lake Nyos
Date: August 21st, 1986.
Location: Cameroon.
Disaster Type: Fatal release of 80 million cubic metres of Co2
Fatalities: 1,700 deaths.
Resulting Damage: 3,500 livestock also killed.
Some natural disasters seem to happen in very mysterious ways. Sometimes there are no solid explanations as to why certain things occur. This is the case with the sudden gas release from Lake Nyos in Cameroon. The way this particular event occurred and the aftermath are still being studied by geologists from all over the world.
At approximately 9:30 PM on August 21st, 1986, an incredibly high amount of carbon dioxide gas was released from the lake. The lake is 208 meters deep and it is one of the three known lakes that are saturated with carbon dioxide. It was given the title of the ‘Deadliest Lake’ by the Guinness book of World Records in 2008 and the name is certainly fitting for this particular situation.
No pinpointed cause has been found for the event, but some geologists say that the cause was probably abnormal subsurface heat levels or a geological tremor that produced a small explosion of magma. The amount of gas expelled by the lake that day was enough to fill 10 soccer stadiums, and was released in as little as 20 seconds. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air, and this caused it to fall down into the villages near the lake.
This gas which sped down to the villages at a speed of up to 30 mph, was silent and completely invisible. Some people might think that this gas is not normally harmful to people as it is naturally present in the air at about 0.3 percent, and they would be right, but when it completely replaces regular air intake, it can cause asphyxiation and almost certain death. This phenomenon caused the gas to completely push aside the air that was circulating there. It only took a few minutes for more than 1,700 people to die that night. Many of them died in their sleep because they went unconscious due to the lack breathable of air while they slept. Many of the luckier people who survived woke up around 10 to 16 hours later. The reason why some people survived is because of the way the wind was directed in their specific location.
Over 3,500 livestock died in this disastrous explosion which created a silent and invisible deadly cloud of death. A survivor whose whole family died in the incident said that he was awoken by the lack of oxygen only to find himself unable to talk, to catch a breath or even move properly.
The survivors from the villages of Cha, Nyos and Subum were forced to relocate as ordered by the Cameroon government, to prevent another tragic occurrence happening near the lake. There was also a lot of international assistance provided for this disaster, with people coming from all over the world into Lake Nyos to help with the process of degassing the lake in order to avoid another explosion in the near future. There are also efforts being made to discover exactly what caused this explosion because all the studies up to this point are inconclusive and there are only theories to explain it so far.
20 – Legalisation of Tobacco
Cigarettes – image author: Geierunited
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