The 9 deadliest floods
River floods, dam failures, storm surges: the deadliest floods in the atlas.
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1
Yangtze and Huai River floods
After a drought and then a very snowy winter, record monsoon rains and a series of cyclones make the Yangtze, the Huai and the Yellow River burst their banks.
≈ 2 million deaths
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2
Yellow River flood
After prolonged rain, the Yellow River’s dikes give way near Zhengzhou.
≈ 900,000 deaths
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3
Vargas tragedy
Torrential rain triggers mud and debris flows that race down the Cordillera de la Costa and bury the coastal towns north of Caracas.
≈ 15,000 deaths
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4
Derna floods
The torrential rain of Mediterranean storm Daniel makes two poorly maintained dams upstream of Derna give way.
4,352 deaths
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5
Vajont disaster
A landslide of about 260 million m³ breaks away from Monte Toc and falls into the Vajont dam reservoir.
1,917 deaths
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6
Pakistan floods
An exceptionally intense monsoon, worsened by melting glaciers, submerges up to a third of the country.
1,739 deaths
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7
Malpasset Dam failure
Five years after its completion, the Malpasset arch dam, swollen by torrential rain, gives way in the evening.
423 deaths
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8
Storm Xynthia
A violent Atlantic storm coincides with a spring tide: during the night, the sea breaches the dikes of Vendée and Charente-Maritime.
65 deaths
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9
Great Flood of Paris
After weeks of rain on saturated ground, the Seine rises for about ten days and reaches 8.62 m at the Pont d’Austerlitz on 28 January.
No recorded deaths
The Banqiao dam failure (China, 1975) and the 1938 Yellow River flood are not yet in the atlas. Ranking based on the disasters in the Mémoire du Globe atlas, using the most commonly accepted tolls. For older events, the figures are orders of magnitude.
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