America is known for going big.
Unfortunately, that also applies to natural disasters.
What were the worst disasters in the country’s history?
The worst earthquake occurred in Alaska in 1964.
The Great Alaskan Earthquake had a magnitude of 9.2 — making it the second-largest recorded earthquake in history.i
The resulting tsunamis caused death and damage as far away as California.ii
The Space Needle swayed in Seattle.iii
And the quake’s effect could be seen in waterways as far away as Louisiana.iv
Many Americans think the deadliest fire in the country’s history was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It wasn’t.
But the worst fire actually happened on the exact same night as the Chicago blaze ... and killed more than four times as many people.v
On October 8, 1871, over 1,200 people died as the Peshtigo Fire roared through Wisconsin and Michigan.vi
The wildfire is estimated to have burned up to 1.5 million acres.vii
Around 800 people died in the town of Peshtigo alone — which was completely destroyed within the space of an hour.viii
The story remains poorly remembered, however, because the Chicago Fire dominated headlines.ix
The turn of the century brought the worst natural disaster in American history.
On September 8, 1900, a 140-mph hurricane hit the island town of Galveston, Texas.
The city experienced a storm surge of nearly 16 feet.x
The storm and ensuing flood claimed the lives of up to 8,000 people — nearly a quarter of the island’s residents.xi
Survivors reported the storm lifting up a steel railway trestle and smashing it through a buildingxii and recalled that it took nearly six weeks to bury or cremate all the victims.xiii
Thankfully, Galveston eventually took steps to reduce its vulnerability to extreme weather: building a sea wall and elevating some parts of the city by as much as 11 feet.xiv
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- At 9.2 on the Richter scale, the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 was the worst in the country’s history.
- The deadliest fire in American history was the 1871 Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin and Michigan.
- The worst natural disaster in American history was a 1900 hurricane that killed 8,000 people in Galveston, Texas.
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