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).
Solar storm of August 1972
The most significant detected solar flare activity occurred from August 2 to August 11. Most of the significant solar activity emanated from active sunspot region McMath 11976 (MR 11976; sunspot regions being clusters of sunspot pairs). McMath 11976 was extraordinarily magnetically complex but its size was large although not exceptional. McMath 11976 produced 67 solar flares (4 of these X-class) during the time it was facing Earth, from July 29 to August 11. It also produced multiple relatively rare white light flares over multiple days. The same active area was long-lived. It persisted through five solar rotation cycles, first receiving the designation as Region 11947 as it faced Earth, going unseen as it rotated the far side of the Sun, then returning Earthside as Region 11976, before cycling as Regions 12007, 12045, and 12088, respectively.