On June 30, 1908, a giant fireball, most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet flattened 80 million trees near the Stony Tunguska River in the largest impact event in recorded history. An excerpt from the article:
"In the early morning of June 30, 1908, something exploded in the sky above the Stony Tunguska river in Siberia, flattening estimated 80 million trees across 820 square miles. Many thousand people in a radius of 900 miles observed the Tunguska Event, and more than 700 accounts were collected later. The reports describe a fireball in the sky, like a second sun, and a series of explosions “with a frightful sound,” followed by shaking of the ground as “the earth seemed to get opened wide, and everything would fall in the abyss.” The indigenous Evenks and Yakuts believed a god or shaman sent the fireball to destroy the world. Various meteorological stations in Europe recorded both seismic and atmospheric waves. Days later, strange phenomena were observed in the sky of Russia and Europe, like glowing clouds, colorful sunsets, and a weak luminescence in the night."