Top News Briefs: Explosion in Lebanon, Hurricane Isaias slams North Carolina

Here are two top news briefs. 

Explosion in Lebanon 

Today in Beirut, Lebanon, there was a gigantic explosion that killed at least 50 people and injured over 3,000 people. Videos on social media showed two explosions near a port area. The first explosion showed  a large plume of smoke rising from a building, which billowed for about 15 seconds, before a second, gigantic explosion erupted from the same building. Entire buildings had their glass windows broken, the roofs of buildings were destroyed, and there were many people trapped under rubble near the site of the explosion. It seems like the building had some very explosive material in it and there was an accident. It is possible that ammonium nitrate caused the explosion. The explosion seems very similar to a massive explosion that happened in West, Texas, which was also an ammonium nitrate explosion. 15 people were killed when a fertilizer plant caught fire and then exploded. Both are similar explosions, but Beirut is in a densely populated area while West was a rural area. Very sad to see what is happening in Beirut. 

Hurricane Isaias slams North Carolina 

The second news — Hurricane Isaias made landfall on North Carolina as a Category 1 storm last night and is, as of this afternoon, a tropical storm in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-New York region. Two people died when a tornado spawned by the storm hit a mobile home park. News reports said there was a storm surge, property damage, and multiple tornadoes that hit the North Carolina coast. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/04/massive-explosion-near-beirut-port-rocks-lebanese-capital.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/isaias-hurricane-tropical-storm-tornado-flooding-fires-outages/