"Be Like John"

What looks like fireworks going off before the large explosion at the #Beirut port. #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/D3PlidjjNA

— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) August 4, 2020

.@johnismay is an actual bomb and explosives expert. He hasn’t tweeted about Beirut because he’s doing what every actual expert is doing: Collecting information before drawing any conclusions. Be like John.

— Lauren Katzenberg (@Lkatzenberg) August 4, 2020

Lebanon’s pm says 2750 TONS of stored ammonium nitrate (like a huge fertilizer bomb) ripped through Beirut. Now concerns about fumes in a city with blown out windows and doors.

— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) August 4, 2020

Sounds about right:

The Texas City disaster is generally considered the worst industrial accident in American history. Witnesses compared the scene to the fairly recent images of the 1943 air raid on Bari and the much larger devastation after the atom bomb was dropped at Nagasaki. Of the dead, 405 were identified and 63 have never been identified. The latter remains were placed in a memorial cemetery in the north part of Texas City near Moses Lake. An additional 113 people were classified as missing, for no identifiable parts were ever found. This figure includes firefighters who were aboard Grandcamp when she exploded. There is some speculation that there may have been hundreds more killed but uncounted, including visiting seamen, non-census laborers and their families, and an untold number of travelers. But there were also some survivors among people as close as 70 feet (21 m) from the dock. The victims' bodies quickly filled the local morgue. Several bodies were laid out in the local high school's gymnasium for identification by family or friends.

Parking lot 1⁄4 mile (400 m) away from the explosion
More than 5,000 people were injured, with 1,784 admitted to 21 area hospitals. More than 500 homes were destroyed and hundreds damaged, leaving 2,000 homeless. The seaport was destroyed, and many businesses were flattened or burned. Over 1,100 vehicles were damaged and 362 freight cars were obliterated; the property damage was estimated at $100 million[10] (equivalent to $1.1 billion in 2019).

A 2-short-ton (1.8-metric-ton) anchor of Grandcamp was hurled 1.62 miles (2.61 km) and found in a 10-foot (3 m) crater. It was installed at a memorial park. The other main 5-short-ton (4.5-metric-ton) anchor was hurled 1⁄2 mile (800 m) to the entrance of the Texas City Dike. It rests on a "Texas-shaped" memorial at the entrance. Burning wreckage ignited everything within miles, including dozens of oil storage tanks and chemical tanks. The nearby city of Galveston, Texas, was covered with an oily fog that left deposits over every exposed outdoor surface.

Although in some ways, it could have been worse.  Maybe.  I shouldn't say, that video is about all I've seen of the blast.  Well, except for this:

This video makes your heart stop if you know the geography of Beirut. It was taken just outside Electricite du Liban on the city's busiest street for bars and restaurants. A five minute walk from the port. https://t.co/wO9AG1sQJ0

— Josie Ensor (@Josiensor) August 4, 2020

Still, let's "Be like John."  Not like this asshole:

Trump on the Beirut explosion: I met with some our great generals. "They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."

— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 4, 2020

He’s now winging it about the explosion, some of his “generals” said “it was a bomb of some kind."
Jesus, the PM of Lebanon has enough trouble today.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 4, 2020