World Top Ten Things

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Throughout modern history, the failure to prepare and cope with Mother 
Nature has resulted in catastrophic consequences, from wrecked economies
 to thousands of lives lost. Even as modern technology improves 
forecasts, Nature still gets the upper hand every now and then. 
Considering both human and economic costs, we present 10 of the worst 
all-time disasters to strike the United States.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpQZjzobIeTtv9TbiSLnMZGrK41_7Laqowv1tmIIkkNetqNH6bKI8BillachyDz0NgACCoHJPQURA6f4yNGqqfwT4pFFMghZLOuodbi7ACJX3b9psL-70QYOjBh60m_QlxlYr6nnjgLo_/s1600/1.+Hurricane+Galveston.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hurricane Galveston – Sept. 8, 1900" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpQZjzobIeTtv9TbiSLnMZGrK41_7Laqowv1tmIIkkNetqNH6bKI8BillachyDz0NgACCoHJPQURA6f4yNGqqfwT4pFFMghZLOuodbi7ACJX3b9psL-70QYOjBh60m_QlxlYr6nnjgLo_/s640/1.+Hurricane+Galveston.jpg" title="Hurricane Galveston – Sept. 8, 1900" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>1. Hurricane Galveston – Sept. 8, 1900</b></div>
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Galveston was known at the end of the 19th Century as the “Jewel of 
Texas” until the single deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history  
wiped away much of what had been a booming future. The bustling island 
community had been the hub of the cotton trade and Texas’ largest city. 
Progress bred complacency though, which became apparent when city 
officials and residents decided against building a seawall to protect 
the city. When the category 4 hurricane  with estimated 135 mph winds 
made landfall in the early morning, buildings crumbled under the force 
of 15-foot-high waves. By late afternoon, the entire island was 
submerged. An estimated 8,000 people perished. Although the city was 
successfully rebuilt, it never regained the prosperity that earned it a 
reputation as the “New York of the south.”</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4f91j-lOM_DnlSIiEOg5R_kRE6XApuJyjRUvb8wZLHE6VsFQSxqH72xrJjzRxo7XqLmaPdOF4qdhWDZQ0Pitd03G6GvYBizzNJndeG7xIZ_W99Xn0UIaNfOyPbn6SFKdZlzCd49H_JPZ4/s1600/2.+Hurricane+Katrina.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hurricane Katrina – Aug. 29, 2005" border="0" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4f91j-lOM_DnlSIiEOg5R_kRE6XApuJyjRUvb8wZLHE6VsFQSxqH72xrJjzRxo7XqLmaPdOF4qdhWDZQ0Pitd03G6GvYBizzNJndeG7xIZ_W99Xn0UIaNfOyPbn6SFKdZlzCd49H_JPZ4/s640/2.+Hurricane+Katrina.jpg" title="Hurricane Katrina – Aug. 29, 2005" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>2. Hurricane Katrina – Aug. 29, 2005</b></div>
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The Atlantic storm that began as a category 1 hurricane as it blew 
across southern Florida wound up being the country’s costliest tragedy. 
Katrina  roared into the Louisiana coast with 125 mph sustained winds, 
causing a storm surge that broke levees that shielded New Orleans from 
surrounding, higher coastal waters, and leaving 80 percent of the city 
under water. Katrina killed at least 1,836 people and inflicted damages 
estimated at around $125 billion.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCAXnMZUweIgSAIY_YhKgU_Fa98Z6N8f9cNS2ZLUf8-f9vPNbrns5A61EwBb8dHQdm1U8VNCMgvowpUU6dpoSDHMpGQm4UUwG7VCTtlTd6OWYW13lwAzxKDx703Z33rt3E3EB-NLF7I7f/s1600/3.+Dust+Bowl.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dust Bowl – Early 1930′s" border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCAXnMZUweIgSAIY_YhKgU_Fa98Z6N8f9cNS2ZLUf8-f9vPNbrns5A61EwBb8dHQdm1U8VNCMgvowpUU6dpoSDHMpGQm4UUwG7VCTtlTd6OWYW13lwAzxKDx703Z33rt3E3EB-NLF7I7f/s640/3.+Dust+Bowl.jpg" title="Dust Bowl – Early 1930′s" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>3. Dust Bowl – Early 1930′s</b></div>
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Prior to the early 1930′s, the Great Plains was a farmer’s paradise. 
Rising demands for wheat spurred settlers to plow much of the southern 
plains’ grassy soil to meet this need. The land was eventually exposed 
to erosion, since grass and tree roots that had held the moist soil in 
place during dry times were replaced by cash crops. A decade-long 
drought  transformed the loose topsoil into dust, which windstorms swept
 up and blew eastward, darkening skies as far away as the Atlantic 
Coast. With most of the area’s crops decimated, a third of the farmers 
turned to government aid, while around half a million Americans were 
left homeless.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRfAGWLWdLLPCU3nYe5DxArAZ3oB9oLVkj-SCjdWRHz7SvfTwX09G1KjSAGgG8KcWSdH2cgv-F_im4IHapbpFqt_p4CHa6wz3rMIvalehLCsyyvBVWQUXORkzWTHY-UlyodUzJFMfGNQA/s1600/4.+Great+San+Francisco+Fire+and+Earthquake.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Great San Francisco Fire and Earthquake – April 18, 1906" border="0" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRfAGWLWdLLPCU3nYe5DxArAZ3oB9oLVkj-SCjdWRHz7SvfTwX09G1KjSAGgG8KcWSdH2cgv-F_im4IHapbpFqt_p4CHa6wz3rMIvalehLCsyyvBVWQUXORkzWTHY-UlyodUzJFMfGNQA/s640/4.+Great+San+Francisco+Fire+and+Earthquake.jpg" title="Great San Francisco Fire and Earthquake – April 18, 1906" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>4. Great San Francisco Fire and Earthquake – April 18, 1906</b></div>
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San Francisco residents were abruptly awakened one spring morning by an 
earthquake  that lasted no more than a minute, but set off a chain of 
events that caused the city to burn for four straight days. The 
estimated 7.7- to 7.9-magnitude temblor  not only broke natural gas 
mains, which sparked the fires, but also damaged water mains, leaving 
the fire department with limited resources to battle the blaze. By the 
time the fires were doused, flames had devoured more than 500 city 
blocks, and 3,000 lives were lost. Of those who survived, approximately 
225,000 people found themselves without a home.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPF_7Rtd4_qxGDmmRH7ecAYSyRqF5ragVJW0qulM-A1d_dghNqNbsOSmJGF0K6nqa0cC_wqzZdJB6toTyeupZDnsNtc2d1KoXz0jS08noDb6uhAuT_p3-_lnHm0-P8TaHiS-rMSxBw64e/s1600/5.+Okeechobee+Hurricane.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Okeechobee Hurricane – September 16, 1928" border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPF_7Rtd4_qxGDmmRH7ecAYSyRqF5ragVJW0qulM-A1d_dghNqNbsOSmJGF0K6nqa0cC_wqzZdJB6toTyeupZDnsNtc2d1KoXz0jS08noDb6uhAuT_p3-_lnHm0-P8TaHiS-rMSxBw64e/s640/5.+Okeechobee+Hurricane.jpg" title="Okeechobee Hurricane – September 16, 1928" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>5. Okeechobee Hurricane – September 16, 1928</b></div>
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When the evacuated residents of Lake Okeechobee learned that a 
hurricane  hadn’t arrived on schedule, many returned home thinking that 
they had been spared. The storm, however, slammed ashore later on the 
evening of September 16th with sustained 140 mph winds. Such intensity 
broke a small dike at the lake’s south end, resulting in weeks of heavy 
flooding that claimed at least 2,500 lives.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmUx5CGx-0yued_wggWaJKwND3pcXSwW-1-JmVVXvn9GA4M8dw0bHayWtu-oMcZT5VW9Bg0dDCO5TQyWxrFXgLE5WHtBR4SHvJrZHFUFdryYYbda7qCj5I1iX_EzDIVAxE5VOZxkmpHvs3/s1600/6.+Heat+Wave+of+1980+%25E2%2580%2593+Summer+of+1980.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Heat Wave of 1980 – Summer of 1980" border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmUx5CGx-0yued_wggWaJKwND3pcXSwW-1-JmVVXvn9GA4M8dw0bHayWtu-oMcZT5VW9Bg0dDCO5TQyWxrFXgLE5WHtBR4SHvJrZHFUFdryYYbda7qCj5I1iX_EzDIVAxE5VOZxkmpHvs3/s640/6.+Heat+Wave+of+1980+%25E2%2580%2593+Summer+of+1980.png" title="Heat Wave of 1980 – Summer of 1980" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>6. Heat Wave of 1980 – Summer of 1980</b></div>
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The heat wave of 1980 proved to be one of the nation’s most catastrophic
 prolonged weather events. A high-pressure ridge pushed temperatures 
across the central and southern United States above 90 degrees 
Fahrenheit for most of the summer. Agricultural damage tallied an 
estimated $48 billion due to a massive drought, and 10,000 people died 
from heat and heat stress-related ailments.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm89VBJD1N81dKRt7I06EyIuRlwbBYbGGCnE17btzKaDfSUIwziIaClItT-myJWTin2UozmMyBG8G9TCmSGQCm9sdgm9sddJq1SGw8LqtaL3QfBzPwWg4xTG8N6IO6KRqKKi20UpkmyKpf/s1600/7.+Heat+Wave+of+1988+%25E2%2580%2593+Summer+of+1988.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Heat Wave of 1988 – Summer of 1988" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm89VBJD1N81dKRt7I06EyIuRlwbBYbGGCnE17btzKaDfSUIwziIaClItT-myJWTin2UozmMyBG8G9TCmSGQCm9sdgm9sddJq1SGw8LqtaL3QfBzPwWg4xTG8N6IO6KRqKKi20UpkmyKpf/s640/7.+Heat+Wave+of+1988+%25E2%2580%2593+Summer+of+1988.jpg" title="Heat Wave of 1988 – Summer of 1988" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>7. Heat Wave of 1988 – Summer of 1988</b></div>
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A year-long drought  that had ravaged the agricultural economy was 
further exacerbated by the heat wave of 1988. Damage to the agricultural
 economy surpassed $61 billion, as total rainfall along the Great Plains
 region from April through June was even lower than during the Dust Bowl
 years. Drought conditions seeded wildfires that raged across 
Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore that summer. Between 5,000 
and 10,000 people succumbed to health complications stemming from the 
sweltering heat.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjzj7WR48WzOPg4GsgK1SFpU4RUA4JXJfSaUmNBW7Ajj_TNmSKq5Zt5Hj8xBzuzmdgo8i4G0t7xxQ5TJfx83nKkpptW21Bn2Q9q7ludb18WoRLy4flqGX6MeRYyj-2vTnWZKg-MXxhLej/s1600/8.+Johnstown+Flood.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Johnstown Flood – May 31, 1889" border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjzj7WR48WzOPg4GsgK1SFpU4RUA4JXJfSaUmNBW7Ajj_TNmSKq5Zt5Hj8xBzuzmdgo8i4G0t7xxQ5TJfx83nKkpptW21Bn2Q9q7ludb18WoRLy4flqGX6MeRYyj-2vTnWZKg-MXxhLej/s640/8.+Johnstown+Flood.jpg" title="Johnstown Flood – May 31, 1889" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>8. Johnstown Flood – May 31, 1889</b></div>
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During the late 19th Century, the small industrial community of 
Johnstown in Pennsylvania earned a reputation as a producer of 
high-quality steel. All that progress was flushed away when the poorly 
maintained South Fork dam that stood high up in the mountains, 14 miles 
from the city, failed. Days of torrential downpour caused the dam to 
burst, unleashing more than 20 million tons of water and debris to crash
 down on the city with the force of Niagara Falls. The flood leveled 
1,600 homes and killed 2,209 people.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozCA-vbcVrkIuKsiTrgiVPWAqOPW_dVqNN1H0ov6JyQs9WjxsNtgUQFK0uEeiAtXWqyAtfhoCQ6IG4JycVGpC229e5TtOi8jvwGpKZ-8QguK6bGKC9hFfz2H_vizPlEvMW_K107r3f05s/s1600/9.+Peshtigo+Fire.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Peshtigo Fire – October 8, 1871" border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozCA-vbcVrkIuKsiTrgiVPWAqOPW_dVqNN1H0ov6JyQs9WjxsNtgUQFK0uEeiAtXWqyAtfhoCQ6IG4JycVGpC229e5TtOi8jvwGpKZ-8QguK6bGKC9hFfz2H_vizPlEvMW_K107r3f05s/s640/9.+Peshtigo+Fire.jpg" title="Peshtigo Fire – October 8, 1871" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>9. Peshtigo Fire – October 8, 1871</b></div>
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A lesser-known fire  in Wisconsin that burned on the same day as the 
Great Chicago Fire of 1871 turned out to be the nation’s deadliest. The 
drought-stricken city of Peshtigo 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. The wildfire  even jumped 
across the Peshtigo River, trapping both sides of the town in flames. By
 the time the inferno subsided, it had scorched 12 towns and left 
roughly 1,200 dead.</div>
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<b>10. Tri-State Tornado – March 18, 1925</b></div>
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Over the span of three-and-a-half destructive hours, the Tri-State 
Tornado became the deadliest twister to rip through the heartland. Along
 its path – which included Illinois, Indiana, Missouri – the tornado  
demolished more than 15,000 homes. Of the nearly 700 people killed, 613 
were from Illinois. In the aftermath, forecasters started to look into 
developing a tornado warning system that would have spared many lives at
 the time.</div>
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Source :- http://worldtoptenthings.blogspot.in/2011/12/top-10-worst-natural-disasters-of.html </div>
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Top 10 Worst Natural Disasters of American History

Throughout modern history, the failure to prepare and cope with Mother Nature has resulted in catastrophic consequences, from wrecked e...