History
Famous Historic Floods
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Updated:4/9/2026
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Flood↕ | Year↕ | Region↕ | Country↕ | Deaths↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 China Floods | 1931 | Yangtze and Huai rivers | China | 2-4 million | Deadliest natural disaster in recorded history, drowning plus famine and disease |
| 1887 Yellow River Flood | 1887 | Yellow River (Huang He) | China | 900,000-2 million | Dikes burst, flooded 50,000 sq mi, earned Yellow River 'China's Sorrow' nickname |
| 1938 Yellow River Flood | 1938 | Huayuankou dike | China | 500,000-900,000 | Nationalist forces deliberately breached dike to halt Japanese advance |
| 1970 Bhola Cyclone | 1970 | East Pakistan (Bangladesh) | Pakistan/Bangladesh | 300,000-500,000 | Deadliest tropical cyclone in history, contributed to Bangladesh independence |
| Banqiao Dam Failure | 1975 | Henan Province | China | 170,000-240,000 | Typhoon Nina caused dam cascade failure, kept secret for decades |
| North Sea Flood | 1953 | North Sea coast | Netherlands/UK/Belgium | 2,551 | Netherlands' worst flood, led to Delta Works construction, breached sea walls |
| Johnstown Flood | 1889 | Pennsylvania | United States | 2,209 | South Fork Dam failure, wall of water hit Johnstown, early Red Cross relief effort |
| Great Mississippi Flood | 1927 | Mississippi River basin | United States | 500 | Flooded 27,000 sq mi, displaced 630,000, reshaped US flood control and politics |
| St. Lucia's Flood | 1287 | North Sea (Netherlands) | Netherlands | 50,000-80,000 | Created the Zuiderzee, reshaped Dutch coastline, named for feast day |
| St. Elizabeth's Flood | 1421 | South Holland | Netherlands | 2,000-10,000 | Destroyed 72 villages, created Biesbosch wetlands still visible today |
| Hurricane Katrina | 2005 | New Orleans and Gulf Coast | United States | 1,833 | Levee failures flooded 80% of New Orleans, exposed emergency response failures |
| Genroku Tsunami | 1703 | Kanto (Japan) | Japan | 5,000+ | Earthquake-driven tsunami after Genroku quake, destroyed coastal villages |
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