2009 Handlová mine blast
The 2009 Handlová mine blast occurred 330 metres (1,080 ft) underground in Trencin Region, Slovakia at Hornonitrianske Bane Prievidza, a.s.s (HNB) coal mine located in the town of Handlová. 20 people were killed, nine others suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment. Some historians have called the disaster the largest mining tragedy in Slovakia's history. The deadly explosion, probably caused by flammable gases, occurred after mine rescuers had earlier been deployed to extinguish a fire in the Eastern shaft of the mine.
Heron Road Workers Memorial Bridge collapse
The Heron Road Workers Memorial Bridge (formerly the Heron Road Bridge) is a bridge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It connects Baseline Road to Heron Road and allows east-west traffic to cross both the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal just south of Carleton University. The current bridge was finished in 1967, one year after a bridge collapse killed nine workers and injured over sixty others in the worst construction accident in both Ottawa and Ontario history. It was renamed in 2016 to commemorate the victims of that accident.
St. Lawrence Seaway broke ground
The St. Lawrence Seaway is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland as Duluth, Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior. The seaway is named for the St. Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Legally, the seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie, and includes the Welland Canal. Ships from the Atlantic Ocean are able to reach ports in all five of the Great Lakes, via the Great Lakes Waterway.
Herbert Hoover was born
Herbert Clark Hoover was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. He was a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Great Depression in the United States. A self-made man who became rich as a mining engineer, Hoover led the Commission for Relief in Belgium, served as the director of the U.S. Food Administration, and served as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Hoover has been memorialized in the names of several things, including the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.
1856 Last Island hurricane
The 1856 Last Island hurricane was a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that is tied with 2020's Hurricane Laura and 2021's Hurricane Ida as the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana, as measured by maximum sustained winds. Late on August 10, the hurricane made landfall on Last Island, Louisiana, with winds at 150 mph (240 km/h), hours before striking near New Iberia. The system rapidly weakened after moving inland, falling to tropical storm intensity on August 11.
István Türr was born
István Türr was a Hungarian soldier, revolutionary, canal architect and engineer. Türr was deeply involved with the Panama Canal at its earlier stage, being himself the President of the "Societe Civile Internationale du Canal Interoceanique" that proposed to build it. After 1881, Türr and Gerster were involved with the Greek Government's major project of planning and implementing the Corinth Canal, a project that gained considerable international attention.
