Verse 5 in this chapter introduced the destruction with “a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land.” These verses expand that information with details. There are two important aspects of the descriptions in this chapter. The first is that they are sufficiently detailed that they allow us to understand, with reasonable accuracy, the source of these natural phenomena.
The second is that the descriptions cover more distance than any one person could experience at the time they occurred. Thus, these are remembered descriptions, and some of the information was probably collected from other people and not the result of Nephi’s personal knowledge. The cities of Zarahemla and Moroni were in different locations, with Zarahemla in the center of the land and Moroni near the east sea. While the burning of Zarahemla and the sinking of Moroni would have been reported, the actions would have taken some time, and it is very doubtful that Nephi himself could have witnessed them both. Even though Mormon declares that the timing and the events are accurate, from a historical viewpoint, we should understand that they represent collected reports of what happened.
The descriptions of the destructions in the land southward have a counterpart in the land northward.