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Meteorite Destroys Warehouse In Auckland, NZ
vik writes "According to local media, multiple eye witnesses are reporting that a meteorite crashed into a warehouse in Auckland, New Zealand last night, setting it on fire. The warehouse roof was destroyed but no nearby buildings were damaged and there was only one minor casualty — a man who happened to be inside the building at the time. The fire service have not yet made an official announcement."
While casualty is most often used to mean a death, it also refers to injury.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
Some people were convinced the fire was caused by what may have been a meteorite, which was seen from various parts of the upper North Island streaking across the sky just after 10 o';clock.
Several callers claim the light in the sky was very bright, and it was described by some as a blinding flash. Others said it was trailing smoke.
One man, Mike, says he saw the object crash with an exploding noise in the Ponsonby area, and reckons it could have started the fire.
To summarize, a meteorite was seen, and may have even crashed in this area. That is all.
Casualty does NOT refer to deaths. It refers to the number of military members removed from duty due to wounds. This includes fatalities AND injuries.
Casualty: (n) person killed or injured in a war or accident. So, it's the people killed (and in American media often refers only to the dead) or injured. Not just due to war. It's inclusive of both. 'nough said?
I was on top of Mt Eden watching the fireworks display. Shortly after it ended was chatting with my friend when the meteor shot overhead - it was larger than anything I've ever seen in my life, the sky flashed as if a band of magnesium had been lit and the trail that it left behind remained illuminated for several minutes. We were goofing off when my friend spotted the blaze to the north, the same direction that the meteor had been going in. It was seriously the biggest fire in a city that I've ever witnessed and it was crazy seeing all of the fire engines racing out to it. We jumped in the car and headed over there. Just had to follow the huge plume of smoke, even in the dark. It was pretty much burnt out by the time we got there, although they were still dousing it with water and smoke/steam continued to pour out. While it seems unlikely it was the meteor, it was INSANE to see that big a fire, just minutes after that incredible meteor. Now I'm just waiting for the next volcano to spawn here. It's gonna happen sooner or later... (This city is SO much better than Toronto). ;)
I'm in Auckland, saw the meteor (which was awesome, BTW), and there's no way it hit anything or caused the fire. It was going totally in the wrong direction and it burned up well before the ground. In fact, it was probably so high that its trajectory would have taken it well out to sea.
This is just a classic case of people finding spurious links between unrelated events.
...they're often frozen on the surface when found right after the fall! It's a common myth that meteorites blazing hot. In reality, the molten surface of a meteorite has plenty of time to cool during the fall through cold atmosphere, and the interior of the meteorite remains very cold.
Interesting. Similar lawsuits happened in the U.S. (not necessarily a common-law country, depends on what law we're written since the split) because of hurricane Katrina.
People's homes would have water damage, but the insurance companies wouldn't pay because the people didn't have flood insurance. However, many of these people's homes didn't flood; the water got in because the roof had been torn off (or just windows had been broken) by the hurricane. And the people's insurance did cover wind damage.
In other words, flooding (uninsured loss) was directly caused by wind (insured loss), so does insurance pay? After lawsuits, the answer here was yes.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Meteorites cool off way before hitting the ground. They cool off during what is known as "Dark Flight". No meteorite lands hot. Period. Now maybe it struck something which then exploded but I highly doubt this story.