While natural disasters seem to get more press coverage nowadays, they’re are nothing new. Natural disasters have influenced the course of history throughout the ages, causing famine, loss of life, and in extreme cases, the destruction of entire civilizations. While they are, thankfully, strange occurrences by design, there are times when mother nature simply outdoes even herself and creates something truly bizarre. Whether they defy explanation or simply leave us in awe at the sheer force they employ, here are 10 of the strangest natural disasters on record.
1. Lake Nyos, Cameroon, 1986: Doctors and scientists were puzzled when in August of 1986 almost 1,800 people were found dead, as well as scores of cattle and wild animals, seemingly overnight. Their bodies showed no outward signs of trauma, disease, or poisons that could have caused such widespread and immediate loss of life. With help from scientists from all over the world, it was determined that a local lake was the most likely cause of the disaster and Lake Nyos, formed in the crater of an extinct volcano, was tested. Results showed that the CO2 levels in the lake were off the charts as the volcanic chamber which had once released magma to the surface of the earth was still releasing potentially poisonous gases into the lake. The gases pooled due to the unusual stillness of Lake Nyos and when enough accumulated, the gas rose to the surface in bubbles releasing the sometimes deadly gas into the air. Heavier than the surrounding air, carbon dioxide easily suffocated those unlucky enough to be sleeping during the event. Lakes that behave in this way are incredibly rare, and scientists are working on ways to keep this deadly and silent natural disaster from happening again.
2. The Tunguska Blast, Russia, 1908: In the early morning hours of June of 1908, an explosion rocked the Siberian wilderness, burning and leveling thousands of miles of forest. Yet despite the intensity of the blast, estimated at 1,000 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, there was no evidence of what caused it. Scientists suspected a comet or asteroid entering the atmosphere was to blame, but there was no impact crater and no fragments of the object were ever recovered, making it difficult to definitively prove their theories. In fact, it wasn’t until late 2001 that scientists were finally able to put this explosive mystery to rest. A team of Italian scientists using seismic records, public literature, and eye-witness accounts were able to determine a possible orbit for the object that exploded, leading them to believe that it was more than likely a low-density asteroid which would have exploded in the atmosphere, never reaching the ground but sending a deadly shock wave instead.
3. The Year Without a Summer, Europe, America and Canada, 1816: In these days of global warming and heat waves it may be hard to imagine a summer where snow is still falling in June, but for those living in the northeastern United States, Canada and Europe in 1816, it was a reality. Problems began in early May when a frost killed numerous crops causing food shortages that would come back to bite the frozen countryside, especially in Europe where famine and food riots were common. Two large blizzards blanketed Canada and New England in June, leading to great loss of life, and ice and cold weather persisted through July and August, though temperatures often alternated between cold and hot even within the same day. This freak cold wave was due largely in part to a volcanic eruption that had occurred in the previous year, causing what is known as a volcanic winter. So be careful what you wish for the next time you want your hot summer days to cool off.
Top 10 Strangest Natural Disasters in Human History================================================
All very scary disaster, especially Lake Nyos, a lake that killed people. The year without summer in 1815 was caused by eruption of Tambora in 1815 in Indonesia. It is the largest eruption to be recorded by humans. It is much larger than Krakatoa in 1883. The idea of a single tornado that traveled three states sounds impossible, but it happened in 1925 with the Tri-State Tornado Outbreak. 695 people died.