NWEA question Passage: The men worked long hours on the railroad, and the work was hard and difficult. Unlike today's construction where heavy machinery is used, the men of the late 1800s had only the strength of their own bodies to do the work. Railroad work was also very dangerous. In order to clear a path to lay the tracks, dynamite was used to blast through foothills and mountains. Bricks of dynamite were set by hand, and many accidents happened due to the unsophisticated nature of the blast. In a journal entry, written by a railroad construction manager, a blast is described in detail

This afternoon we blasted through a section of very dense earth. We had to drill holes and set several bricks of dynamite to accomplish the job. We planned to carve a deep cut along the full length of the foothill. It would take many blasts. Fortunately, no one was hurt in this one. We used great caution and stood at a far distance. The force of the explosion was impressive, "like a thunderbolt thrown in anger by the mighty zeus". The terrible sound rang in our ears and heavy dust clouded our eyes. Smoke billowed steadily from the blast site and chunks of earth rained down all around us. The ground trembled and most of the men lost their footing for a time. I waited several minutes before coming in closer to inspect the damage.

Question: Which statement best explains how the quoted allusion describes the explosion?

Answers
1. It compares the size of the blast to a violent storm.
2. It emphasizes the effect of the blast on the men's hearing
3. It suggests that the strength of the blast seemed superhuman
4. It shows that the impact of the blast increased the men's fear