Floods The Mississippi River flood of 1993 destroyed 1500 homes and left 58 dead after 23 days of rising water covering four states. The Missouri River was 20 miles wide at peak flood and 5 feet higher than ever at St. Louis. Three-fourths of all the levees failed. The deadliest US flood disaster occured in Johnstown, PA in 1889 when a dam burst. Worldwide between 1947 and 1967 more than 173,000 people died in floods.
Flooding accounts for almost one quarter of the weather-related deaths.
Tsunami Walls of water up to 100 feet high, moving as fast as a jet, are caused by underwater earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. The Chilean quake of 1960 destroyed Hilo, Hawaii and left 61 dead. The two scales used to measure earthquakes are the Richeter and the Mercalli. The biggest quake ever recorded on this scale was the 8.9 Chilean quake of 1960. In April 1999, more than 130,000 acres and 50 homes were also destroyed in Florida.