On what seemed like a normal Friday morning in the Chelyabinsk region of South Central Russia, the unexpected happened. A large meteor streaked across the sky, exploding in the atmosphere, and unleashing an intense flash and thunderous explosion. We have a collection of videos from the explosion and updated injury and damage details after the jump.

The meteor entered the atmosphere around 9:15 am local time Friday, February 15 in South Central Russia and the explosion followed at around 9:20 am; caused damage and injury, with injury totals climbing over 500 as reported by CNN. The same report says at least 270 buildings have sustained damage from the explosion in the sky.

The explosion led to car alarms going off and glass shattering out of windows, which is what caused a majority of the injuries from this event. No confirmed reports of injuries or deaths have come as a result of falling debris. CNN is reporting that a trail of rock has fallen from the explosion over the Chelyabinsk region and into the neighboring country Kazakhstan.

UPDATE (08:20 am CT 02/15/13)

Russian space agency Roscosmos confirmed it was a meteorite traveling at approximately 19 miles per second. Some officials there were speculating that this meteorite was part of an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool passing very near Earth. The smoke trail that followed the meteor could be seen 125 miles away. Some pieces of the meteor fell into a reservoir outside of the town of Cherbakul. At this time, it isn't known if any injuries occurred from this.

As of noon local time in Russia, 725 injuries have been reported according to CNN. Most of these injuries are minor cuts and scratches from shattering glass. 270 buildings are currently reporting damage from the blast, including schools and hospitals in the area. Russian government officials have dispatched 20,000 emergency response officials to the region to aid in dealing with injuries, damage, and debris.

UPDATE (11:20 am CT 02/15/13)

The injury count has now reached 1,000 over according to Russian state media. The count continues to go up as assessments are made following the explosion. Among those injured, more than 200 of them are children. The number of buildings damaged in some way by the explosion and debris fallout has now reached about 3,000 buildings.

You will notice many of the videos below are from within cars. If you're wondering why, the reason for this because many cars in Russia are equipped with dash cams for insurance purposes.

Watch Videos From the Meteor Explosion in Russia

We are updating a growing list of videos of the explosion and aftermath (See them by clicking here)

 

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