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).
Bastille Day event
The Bastille Day Flare or Bastille Day Event was a powerful solar flare on July 14, 2000, the national day of France, occurring near the peak of the solar maximum in solar cycle 23. The X5.7-class flare originated from a sunspot known as Active region 9077, which subsequently caused an S3 radiation storm on Earth fifteen minutes later as energetic protons bombarded the ionosphere. It was the biggest solar radiation event since 1989. The proton event was four times more intense than any previously recorded since the launches of SOHO in 1995 and ACE in 1997. The flare was also followed by a full-halo coronal mass ejection and a geomagnetic super storm on July 15–16. The geomagnetic storm peaked at the extreme level, G5, in the late hours of July 15.