Natural disaster
A solar flare is a phenomenon where the Sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation, much more than normal. Solar flares are unlikely to cause any direct injury, but can destroy electrical equipment. The potential of solar storms to cause disaster was seen during the 1859 Carrington event, which disrupted the telegraph network, and the March 1989 geomagnetic storm which blacked out Quebec. Some major known solar flares include the X20 event on August 16, 1989, and a similar flare on April 2, 2001. The most powerful flare ever recorded occurred on November 4, 2003 (estimated at between X40 and X45).
Hyder flare
As Hyder flares are notably rare, few occurrences have been recorded since their discovery, the first being on August 31, 2012, the second being on June 4, 2014. This solar flare occurred in the Southeastern Galactic quadrant. This flare spanned more than . It was recorded to have happened around 14:30 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). After the flare took place, solar activity was low for 24 hours.