1906 The San Francisco Earthquake
April 18th 1906 5:12 A.M. a huge 7.8 earthquake starts to rupture across a 295 area of the San Andreas fault 2 miles away from San Francisco. The quake was felt north as far as Oregon and as far inland as Nevada. The quake would cause hundreds of fires and crumble San Francisco The quake is California's worst disaster ever and has been compared to Hurricane Katrina.
The cost of this earthquake was more than $400 million (5.1 billion today).The earthquake itself destroyed San Francisco tearing buildings and houses down breaking under grown pipes thus causing fires from the gas lines under the city. The worst affect of the quake was the fires which literally burned down 90% of San Francisco or over 500 city blocks. Over 25,000 people were misplaced from there homes. Scientists say that another earthquake will hit San Francisco in the next 25 to 35 years and the results of the next quake will be worst than the 1906 quake.
1925 The Great Tri-State Tornado
March 18th 1925 a tornado is about to go through three states Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The tornado caused a confirmed 696 deaths and 3,000 wounded the worst in United States history. It was an F5 tornado that left a 219 mile track some people of that time called it the finger of god because of its destruction it left behind. The tornado was part of nine others in the early Tornado season.
The vortex was first seen at around 1:00 P.M. northwest of Ellington Missouri. 2:30 P.M. the tornado crosses the Mississippi river and enters Illinois and goes straight through and destroys the entire town of Gorham. Illinois was the most affected area of this disaster killing almost 615 people in the state alone. The tornado then crosses the Wabash River into Indiana and demolishes the town of Griffin. At least 71 are killed in Indiana. In all 696 die in all three states and the amount wounded is disputed from 1,000 to as high as 3,000.The disaster causes 16.5 million dollars (1.6 billion today) the Tri state Tornado was one of the U.S.A.'s worst disasters as well as one of the worlds.
1980 Mount St. Helens
May 18th 1980 a major volcanic eruption is about to take place that would kill 57 people. Several small earthquakes started to pump magma up through the volcano during the previous two week leading up to the eruption. This pumping of the magma into the volcano would cause a bulge in the side of the volcano which would lead to this face sliding off. 123 years of a dormant volcano would be know more on March 18th 1980 with a huge eruption caused by a weak 4.1 earthquake.
At 12:36 P.M. the volcano erupts sending ash flying 6,500ft into the air. 8:32 A.M. the North Face of the volcano breaks of the mountain and slides down the entire mountain and crashes into Spirit Lake. The volcanic eruption caused thousands of pounds of ash landing in the surrounding areas as well as mudslides would affect area around the Volcano. The Volcano would cost 951 million (1.1billion today). Small volcanic activity was seen in 2004 though now eruption occurred.
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami
December 26th 2004 epicenter west coast of Sumatra a 9.1 earthquake would cause a devastating tsunami that would kill over 225,000 people in over 10 countries. The earthquake was so powerful it caused several other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. The earthquake itself wasn't the killer of the disaster but the tsunami it created the wave started off the west coast of Sumatra and would hit India and as Far away as Somalia.
The Tsunami was moving at an average speed of 470 miles per hour. The Tsunami caused a huge recession of water and many people weren't even sure what was going on since it took over a hour and a half for the wave to hit some people actually went deeper into the water in curiosity. This was a huge reason in the death toll and because of the massive amount of population along the coast of India and Sri Lanka. This earthquake caused the worst disaster ever recorded in history.
2005 Hurricane Katrina
The costliest and one of the most devastating hurricanes ever, Hurricane Katrina. On August 23rd it formed directly over the Bahamas the hurricane then crossed over Florida as a Category 1 causing a few deaths and some minor flooding it then dropped back down into the gulf. There the hurricane built up over whelming strength at this time Katrina started to head to New Orleans. The Hurricane would make landfall as a Category 3 but the wind damage wasn't the main reason for New Orleans devastation , the levees surrounding the city would break (the levees which hold back the water since the entire city is below sea level).
The levees had already taken a beating from the previous hurricanes that season plus the age of the levees led to a catastrophic collapse of over 75% of the levee system. The reason for this was the list above and the storm surge Katrina created. The water that poured into the city flooded 90% of New Orleans.1,836 people died during Katrina many think the number could have been much less but the Mayor did not enforce the evacuation. Katrina cost the U.S.A. 81.2 Billion dollars the most expensive disaster ever. Since Katrina the city is still much in ruins and thousands are without homes.
