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Peshtigo Fire
This fire in Wisconsin burned the same day as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but is much deadlier. The drought-stricken city was set afire when a strong windstorm fueled the spread of a small group of prairie fires by fanning the blaze out over a million acres of forest land. It even jumped across the Peshtigo River, trapping the whole town in flames. It had scorched 12 towns and left roughly 1,200 dead. -
Johnstown Flood
Johnstown in Pennsylvania was flooded when the South Fork dam that stood 14 miles away from the city failed. Days of torrential downpour caused the dam to burst, releasing more than 20 million tons of water and debris to crash down upon the city with the force of Niagra Falls. The flood leveled 1,600 homes and killed 2,209 people. -
Hurricane Galveston
The busy & large city of Galveston, Texas, was devasted when a category 4 hurricane hit it. It came with estimated 135 mph winds and 15-foot-high waves resulting in an estimated 8,000 casualties. -
Great San Francisco Fire and Earthquake
An earthquake lasting no more than a minute, but causing 7.7-7.9 tremors, caused the city to burn for four straight days by breaking natural gas mains along with damaged water mains, leaving firefighters with no way to fight the fire. -
Tri-State Tornado
This hurricane, over the span of three-and-a-half destructive hours, ripped through Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, demolishing more than 15,000 homes. 700 people were killed, with 613 of them being from Illinois. In the aftermath, forecasters began to develop a tornado warning system that would have spared many lives at the time. -
Okeechobee Hurricane
A hurricane that was scheduled earlier than it actually occured surprised most residents. This hurricane sustained 140 mph winds which broke a small dike at the lake's south end, resulting in weeks of heavy flooding that claimed at least 2,500 lives. -
Dust Bowl
The land popularly used for farming was exposed to erosion, causing a decade-long drought. This left farmers turning to government aid and half a million Americans homeless. -
Heat Wave of 1980
This proved to be one of the nation's most catastrophic prolonged weather events. A high-pressure ridge casued temperatures in the central and southern United States to above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for most of the summer. Agricultural damage totaled an estimated $48 billion, and 10,000 people died from the heat. -
Heat Wave of 1988
A year long drought prior caused damage to the agricultural economy that surpassed $61 billion. Total rainfall across the Great Plains region from April through June was even lower than during the Dust Bowl years. Wildfires raged across Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people passed away due to the sweltering heat. -
Hurricane Katrina
This storm that began as a category 1 hurricane roared along the Louisiana coast with 125 mph winds, leaving New Orleans 80% underwater. Katrina killed at least 1,836 people and caused damages averaging $125 billion.
