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Historic Disasters That Were Way Worse Than People Think

Khalid Elhassan April 6, 2020 33 min

Yellow River - 1887 Yellow River flood — 1887 Yellow River Flood. Hakai Magazine

31. Building Up to a Dramatic Climax

Krakatoa kept acting up for a week, then quieted. Then it began acting up again in mid June, 1883, with a thick black cloud that covered the area for a week as the volcano erupted periodically. Ash was emitted, and pumice was thrown up, landing hundreds of miles away in the Indian Ocean. Tidal activity increased, forcing ships to moor with strong chains to resist the tide’s suddenly strong ebb and flow. By early August, a desolate and abandoned Krakatoa was covered by nearly two feet of ash, and all vegetation had died, leaving only tree stumps.

The final act started early in the afternoon of August 26^th. By 2 PM, explosions were heard every ten minutes or so, and Krakatoa had spewed a 20-mile-high ash cloud that was visible from far away. Ships up to twelve miles away reported a heavy ash fall, accompanied by bits of pumice up to four inches wide.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.