The biggest hurricanes and tornadoes in the world. Stronger than Harvey and Irma: the most powerful hurricanes in history

More than 700 hurricanes sweep through the United States a year different strength. The state of Kansas is recognized as the leader in the number of these destructive phenomena with its 1200 cyclones per year. By the way, if in the North and South America destructive tropical cyclones that cause tornadoes or tornadoes are called hurricanes, then in Asia they are also called typhoons. Today we present Top 10 most destructive hurricanes in history, which killed hundreds of people from different parts of the world.

In Russia, such cataclysms occur much less frequently, and tornadoes are formed, as a rule, in coastal waters and rarely come ashore.

A powerful typhoon hit the coast of East Pakistan, causing the formation of a wave 8 meters high. According to various estimates, the death toll from the hurricane ranged from 300 to 800 thousand people, more than 10 million people in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India were left homeless.

9. Hurricane Polin (Mexico, 1997)

Hurricane-force winds and heavy rains caused landslides and floods in various parts of Mexico. About 400 people are considered dead, and 300,000 Mexicans were left without housing and livelihoods. The damage done to Pauline is estimated at $7.5 billion.

8. Hurricane Nargis (Myanmar, 2008)

The hurricane caused catastrophic flooding, which, according to the UN, killed 138,000 people. 2.4 million people in Myanmar are considered affected. The damage caused by Nargiz is estimated at $4 billion.

7. Hurricane Sandy (USA, 2012)

The most destructive hurricane of the past year hit East Coast USA. The hurricane killed 113 people. The states of New York and New Jersey suffered the most damage.

6. Typhoon Nina (China, 1975)

The destructive power of Hurricane Nina allowed the Bankiao Dam to burst, causing catastrophic flooding and destruction of other dams. The number of victims of the hurricane is from 100 to 230 thousand people.

5. Hurricane Charlie (USA, Cuba, Jamaica, 2004)

Gusts of wind during the rampant of this element reached 240 km / h. The hurricane was rated a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale out of five. In the US, 2 million people were evacuated. Damage from Charlie amounted to $16.3 billion.

4. Hurricane Ivan (USA, Cuba, Cayman Islands, 2004)

The hurricane was assigned the highest category five on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The element is to blame for large-scale destruction in Cuba, the United States, Jamaica and Grenada. The damage caused by Ivan is estimated at $18 billion.

3. Hurricane Wilma (USA, Cuba, 2005)

This hurricane is the most powerful cyclone in the Atlantic on record. The cyclone originated in the ocean and made landfall several times. 62 people are considered dead from Wilma, the damage is estimated at $ 29 billion.

2. Hurricane Ike (USA, 2008)

The diameter of the giant eddy was more than 900 km. The wind speed during the hurricane reached 135 km/h. The cyclone "walked" across the United States for 14 hours, bringing with it destruction for a total of $ 30 billion.

1. Hurricane Katrina (USA, 2005)

Most destructive hurricane last decade definitely is Katrina. One of them says that they are almost never accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning, Katrina was an exception to this rule. On the Saffir-Simpson scale, the cyclone received the fifth category. Hurricane-induced flooding covered 80% of New Orleans under water. 1836 people were killed, and the damage amounted to $125 billion.

Hurricane Mitch

The most devastating hurricane of the 20th century ... It was this sad status that Hurricane Mitch received, which swept through the countries of Central America in the fall of 1998 and claimed the lives of more than 11 thousand people (more victims were recorded only during the Great Hurricane of 1780). Approximately the same number of people went missing. The hurricane, which raged for several days, wiped out many settlements, roads, destroyed crops, livestock, food supplies, and famine and shortages came after the disaster. drinking water and medicines, such viral diseases as malaria, cholera, and tropical fever began to spread. About 2.7 million people were left homeless. The hurricane that caused so much trouble began on October 10 off the coast of Africa. On October 26, air gusts of 285 km / h were recorded. As a result, he was awarded the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The hurricane dissipated only on November 5 off the coast of Great Britain. Hurricane Mitch affected several countries - Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States.

Hurricane Katrina

Katrina is the name given to the hurricane that swept over the states adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. The two states most affected were Louisiana with 1,577 deaths and Mississippi with 238 deaths. Also, the dead were in the states of Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Kentucky and Florida, which, in total, amounted to 21 people. New Orleans, in Louisiana, took the brunt - about 80% of the city's area was flooded. The trouble lay in the fact that most of the city is below sea level. In addition, on the one hand there was the Gulf of Mexico, from where the Katrina came, on the other, the channel of the big river North America Mississippi and large lake Pontchartrain is the 11th largest in the country. Immediately after the hurricane, crime increased in the city, mostly looters. The death toll, according to various sources, is up to 1600 people. Before the hurricane, there were 484,000 people in the city; a year later, in July, almost 50% of the population did not live in the city. On the this moment part of the citizens returned to the city, and now the population of the city is 343 thousand people. The consequences of the hurricane were overcome only in May 2006 - all sections of the city were dried up and a significant part of the buildings was restored.

Great Hurricane of 1780

The deadliest hurricane in the history of observing the North Atlantic basin, its victims from October 10 to October 16, 1780, were more than 27.5 thousand people in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, at that time there was no video filming, so we present you the material collected from other tragedies of similar scale. A great hurricane raged near Barbados for 2 days, causing winds that, according to eyewitnesses, were "so deafening that people did not hear their voice." The wind stripped the bark off the trees before they were all knocked down. This phenomenon has not been observed in any of the strongest modern tropical cyclones, therefore, according to meteorologist Dr. José Millas, if we assume that only wind and rain did this, then the wind speed should have exceeded 320 km / h. 19 Dutch ships crashed off the island of Grenada. On Saint Lucia big waves and a storm surge in the port of Castries destroyed British Admiral George Rodney's fleet, with one of the ships causing damage to the city's hospital by being thrown onto it. Forty ships of the French Navy, which took part in the American War of Independence, were capsized by a hurricane off the coast of Martinique, causing 4,000 soldiers to drown. A great hurricane caused a 7.5 m high storm surge that washed away all the houses in the city of St. Pierre; the number of victims on this island amounted to 9 thousand people.

IN Lately the weather is increasingly scaring the population of the planet with rampant elements. If the rain is tropical, if the wind is hurricane. As observers note, every year the activity tropical cyclones only increases. It is associated with the universal global warming 20th and 21st century.

Some people think typhoons, storms and hurricanes natural elements, and others the punishment of the Lord. Powerful tornado lifted cars into the air and brought them down on buildings, carried people away and snatched children from the hands of their mothers. Tornado left behind massive destruction.

We have compiled a list of the most famous tropical cyclones of the 20th and 21st century. It is in our time that these little-studied natural disasters have created a colossal amount of left behindthe greatest number of victims and destruction.

Black Christmas in Europe

Catholic 1999 European countries(France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain) met under pressure Hurricane Lothar . The wind speed was extreme and reached about 215 km / h. It is the most powerful Hurricane ever recorded in Europe. Lothar's cunning was manifested in the fact that meteorologists were unable to predict it, since all the computational models did not work here. The element coincided with mass trips to new year holidays. icy roads and strong wind caused numerous car accidents. In two days Hurricane claimed the lives of more than 70 people. Most of the dead were victims of traffic accidents caused by bad weather conditions and the fall of thousands of trees. The natural disaster led to the suspension of railway transport and the cancellation of flights. Only in the Black Forest (Germany) 40 thousand hectares of forest were destroyed. Whole slopes with valuable rocks coniferous trees were literally beveled in a matter of minutes. Lothar damaged priceless architectural monuments - the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the stained glass windows of the Saint-Chapelle church and so on. Damage from the elements amounted to about 27 billion marks.

Funnel of death

April 3, 1974 148 tornado swept through 13 US states in 24 hours. The energy they released was hydrogen bomb. This is the worst day in US history. 300 people died, more than 5,000 were injured. The destructive power and number of tornadoes were unprecedented. According to statistics, these natural phenomena happen once every 500 years. During the day, weather stations warned of a catastrophe. Thanks to this, even more victims were avoided. But many were taken by surprise, hitting the epicenter of the enraged elements. Unfortunately, the rescuers could not help them. Some cities twice in an hour were at the mercy of the destructive elements. Strength 6 tornado awarded the highest marks.

Death with a female name

Hurricane Katrina the most destructive in US history. It began to form on August 23, 2005 in the area Bahamas. It was rated Level 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The wind speed reached 280 km/h. Due to the location below sea level, many cities of the southeast coast were flooded. In New Orleans, for example, this happened with 80% of the territory, many buildings collapsed. The mayor of the city announced an emergency mandatory evacuation, but not all residents were able to do so. Tens of thousands of citizens were below the poverty line and had no Money on the road and hotels. As a haven, the authorities allocated to the residents the indoor stadium "Superdom", which accommodated about 10 thousand people and became a kind of Noah's Ark for the townspeople. The city was overwhelmed by a wave of looting, murder and rape. The officially confirmed death toll was 1,600. Economic damage from the elements - $ 125 billion.

Storm Isaac strikes

At the end of August 2012, the Atlantic tropical storm"Isaac" , repeating the trajectory of the infamous hurricane Katrina approached the coast of the United States and intensified into a hurricane of the first degree. Wind speed at the epicenter cyclone reached 120 km / h. The hurricane passed through Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Protective structures and dams could not cope with the amount of precipitation that had fallen. Due to heavy winds and floods, about 600,000 consumers were left without electricity. New Orleans has a curfew. Several airports in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had to close. In Haiti, "Isaac" destroyed 335 houses. About 15,000 residents were evacuated. The number of victims was 24 people. At least five died in Dominican Republic. Losses from "Isaac" were estimated at $ 1 billion.

Beat all records

Record number of victims tropical cyclone counts Cyclone Bhola 1970, which passed through the densely populated Ganges Delta and killed from 300 thousand to 500 thousand people, and the potential number of direct and indirect victims from this cyclone could reach a million. This huge number of victims was the result of cyclone storm surge.

Typhoon Nina killed about 230,000 people in China in 1975 as a result of a flood that washed away 62 dams, including the Banqiao dam.

Galveston hurricane 1900 with 6-12 thousand victims was a record in the United States.

most intense tropical cyclone throughout the history of observations Typhoon Type 1979 in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which reached the minimum atmospheric pressure at 870 hPa (653 mm Hg) and maximum permanent winds of 165 knots (85 m/s).

Hurricane Camille was the only tropical cyclone in the entire history of observations that made landfall with winds of such force, that is constant winds at 165 knots (85 m/s) and gusts at 183 knots (94 m/s).

Hurricane with the longest lifespan hurricane john 1994, lasted 31 days. However, until the advent of satellite data in the 1960s, the lifetimes of most tropical cyclones remained underestimated. John also has the longest path of all at 13,280 km. tropical cyclones for which this parameter is known.

Among the disasters of nature tropical cyclones occupy a special place. Due to its little known and difficulties in predicting tornadoes, hurricane, typhoon, tornado and storm capable of causing enormous damage to humanity. In the 20th and 21st century, their power of destruction has increased even more. dangerous the air element seems to hint to us about the coming global catastrophe of the planet Earth.

The diameter of one of them was more than 900 km, the damage from the other was $ 125 billion, and the third claimed the lives of half a million people and "contributed" to the creation of a new state

About the most destructive hurricanes - in the material of "My Planet".

"Bhola"

A disaster of unprecedented proportions struck East Pakistan and West Bengal (a state in eastern India) on November 12, 1970. Despite the fact that the hurricane reached only the third category on the Saffir-Simpson scale, it became one of the most destructive in the history of mankind.

Cyclone Bhola 1970 noaa, Wikimedia Commons

Cyclone Bhola formed over the Bay of Bengal on November 8, and then began to move north, picking up speed along the way. At the time of its peak, it reached the coastline of East Pakistan. Some settlements simply pulverized. The impact of the storm surge claimed the lives of an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people.

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The hurricane was truly fateful, as it changed the map of states. Sharp criticism of the authorities for the slowness in the aftermath of the cyclone led to the fact that the elections held in December of that year, won the East Pakistani opposition. The long confrontation that followed this turned into a war. As a result, the state of Bangladesh was formed.

"Katrina"

One of the most famous in the world and the most destructive in the history of the United States. The formation of Katrina began in the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. Even before it reached the coast of the United States, it was assigned the fifth (final) level of danger on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. True, 12 hours before hitting the United States, the hurricane still weakened to the fourth category. And still, the Katrina's wind speed reached 280 km / h. On August 27, the hurricane reached the coast of Florida, and then turned towards the Gulf of Mexico. The states of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have been declared disaster areas. A mass evacuation began.

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More than a million people left New Orleans and its environs (about 80% of the total population). Kilometer-long queues lined up in front of shops and gas stations. But not everyone was able to leave the city - about 150,000 citizens living below the poverty line did not have the opportunity to leave. Public transport stopped working, so those who did not have a car could only hide in an indoor stadium called the Superdome, as advised by the city authorities.

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On August 29, 2005, the hurricane reached the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. The dams of New Orleans, 70% of which lies below sea level, were damaged. The flooding of the city began. The roof of the Superdome was badly damaged by the wind.

Katrina claimed the lives of 1,836 people (of which more than 720 in New Orleans), the economic damage amounted to $ 125 billion.

"Nina"

This is not even a typhoon, but a super typhoon that swept over China and Taiwan in early August 1975. The hurricane, whose wind speed reached 250 km / h, caused severe floods, destroyed the Banqiao Dam, the largest in the Chinese province of Henan (moreover, it was designed in such a way as to survive floods that occur no more than once every 1000 years) and 62 more smaller dams , erased almost 6 million buildings from the face of the earth. During the entire time of the disaster, water leakage amounted to 15.7 billion m 3 . The flood caused a wave 3 to 7 m high and 10 km wide.

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"Nina" claimed the lives of 26,000 people (these are only those who drowned) and became one of the most destructive hurricanes in history. But these victims were not enough for her: more than 145,000 people died later - from starvation (crops and over 300,000 heads of livestock perished). The total number of victims, according to various estimates, ranges from 171,000 to 230,000 people. Damage from the hurricane is estimated at $1.2 billion.

"San Calixto II"

Hurricane San Calixto II is considered the deadliest storm on record in the North Atlantic Basin. It raged from 9 to 20 October 1780 and was quite destructive. The wind speed at the time of the collapse on Barbados was probably in excess of 320 km/h. According to eyewitnesses, the wind was "so deafening that people did not hear their own voice", and from the trees, before they felled, he tore off the bark. Even the heavy guns were shifted by 30 m. What can we say about the people - only on the island of Barbados, the Great Hurricane claimed the lives of 4,500 people. 19 Dutch ships crashed off the island of Grenada, and in St. Lucia the fleet of British Admiral George Rodney was smashed to pieces. One of the ships of the squadron was lifted and literally thrown onto the building of the nearby city hospital. In total, the San Calixto killed 27,500 people.

"Ike"

This hurricane, which raged in early September 2008, was assigned a fourth category of danger. True, when the Ike reached southern Texas on the 13th, it weakened to the second category, the wind speed was "only" 135 km / h. Nevertheless, "Ike" was able to destroy the unlucky town of Galveston (in 1900, a hurricane also passed here, killing 6,000 people). The hurricane killed 195 people. However, it went down in history as the largest in size. tropical cyclone in the Atlantic over the entire history of observations - the diameter of the storm, according to different information, ranged from 900 to 1450 km.

It is unlikely that a dry description of a hurricane can convey all its power and destructive power. We can only say that in a medium-sized hurricane, as much energy is released as in the explosion of four hundred hydrogen 20-megaton bombs! And to our happiness, that only 2-4% of all this power is transferred to the force of the wind. Although this is quite enough to experience the horror of the destruction and casualties, which are also the result of a huge wave that occurs during the passage of a hurricane.

The power of hurricanes is determined on a five-point scale. To date, mankind has experienced only a few such cataclysms of the greatest destructive force. Most strong hurricanes in the world and the damage they cause are described below.

Mitch

October 1998 became ordeal for several countries at once Caribbean coast. A hurricane of indescribable power swept through El Salvador, Honduras. Nicaragua. Just imagine, the wind speed sometimes exceeded 320 km/h. The most powerful wind, tidal waves and the resulting mudflows swallowed up 20 thousand people, more than 1 million were left without shelter, food, water and medicine. Epidemics have joined the disaster.

great hurricane

In the autumn of 1780, nature unleashed its wrath on the islands of the Caribbean. San Calixto, or the Great Hurricane, with its enormous power walked from Newfoundland to Barbados itself, and did not bypass Haiti. And although the data for those times is very inaccurate, history speaks of 22 thousand victims. A 7-meter wave demolished almost all the villages, the ships located in the bays and near the coast were flooded. Eyewitnesses of the time described the incredible rain that tore off the bark of trees before they felled. Scientists suggest that the wind reached 350 km / h.

Katrina

This monster with a beautiful female name appeared not too long ago. Born in the Bahamas in August 2005 and quickly gaining strength, Hurricane Katrina unleashed its wrath on the American coast. The authorities were not prepared for such a rapid development of events. The deadly hurricane, which was awarded the highest category, claimed the lives of 1836 people, more than 500 thousand were left homeless. Surely, everyone remembers the stunning reports from the destroyed and flooded New Orleans. The worst thing is that human callousness has joined the elements: riots raged in the affected areas, chaos reigned everywhere.

Typhoon in Pakistan

This natural disaster, which happened in November 1970, was probably the most destructive in the entire history of the existence of the human race. The wind of incredible strength raised an 8-meter wave that swept along the coast and several islands. Up to 1 million people died in the typhoon, and the number of victims exceeded 10 million. The damage from the typhoon was beyond calculation: the infrastructure was completely destroyed, a huge number of settlements simply disappeared from the face of the earth.