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Why did the Tunguska explosion flatten trees across such a large area?

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Meteor and meteoroid The Cabin Creek meteorite, an iron (nickel-iron alloy) meteorite that was observed to fall in northwestern Arkansas on March 27, 1886. Its characteristic pattern of “thumbprint” dimples, or regmaglypts, is the result of melting and consequent ablation of its surface as it traveled through the atmosphere. The meteorite is likely a fragment of one of the M class asteroids, which show significant nickel-iron in their surface material.

The Tunguska explosion flattened approximately 2,000 square kilometers of forest because of a massive, high-energy shock wave generated when a large meteoroid (likely an asteroid or comet) exploded in the atmosphere.123

Occurring at an altitude of 5–10 km, the event released energy estimated at up to 15 megatons of TNT—a force roughly 1,000 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. As the object entered the atmosphere at high velocity, its kinetic energy was rapidly converted into heat and a powerful blast wave. This shock wave traveled downward to the surface, felling and splintering trees in a radial pattern away from the epicenter. While the radiant energy from the fireball was intense enough to char the forest, the subsequent blast wave was so powerful that it effectively extinguished the flames, preventing a sustained fire.123