The 10 deadliest hurricanes and cyclones
Hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons and windstorms: the storm surge that floods low-lying coasts is almost always the main killer.
-
1
Bhola cyclone
The cyclone strikes the low-lying islands of the delta at night with a storm surge estimated at about ten metres.
≈ 300,000 deaths
-
2
Cyclone Nargis
A Category 4 cyclone moves up the densely populated Irrawaddy delta with a storm surge of about 4 m.
≈ 138,000 deaths
-
3
Great Hurricane of 1780
In the middle of the American War of Independence, a hurricane of exceptional violence sweeps over Barbados, then Martinique and Sint Eustatius.
≈ 22,000 deaths
-
4
Hurricane Mitch
The hurricane stalls for several days over Central America and dumps torrential rain, up to 1,900 mm in places.
≈ 11,000 deaths
-
5
Galveston hurricane
A Category 4 hurricane drives a storm surge of about 4.6 m onto an island whose highest point is no more than 2.7 m.
≈ 8,000 deaths
-
6
Typhoon Haiyan
One of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever observed at landfall, with sustained winds of about 315 km/h.
≈ 6,300 deaths
-
7
Hurricane Maria
A Category 4 hurricane crosses Puerto Rico from end to end, two weeks after Hurricane Irma.
2,975 deaths
-
8
Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans’ levees fail under the storm surge: about 80% of the city is flooded.
1,833 deaths
-
9
Cyclone Idai
One of the worst cyclones on record in the Southern Hemisphere hits the port city of Beira, about 90% damaged, then dumps torrential rain as far as Zimbabwe.
1,593 deaths
-
10
Storms Lothar and Martin
Two extratropical storms of exceptional violence cross France a day apart: Lothar sweeps the north on 26 December, Martin the south on the night of 27 to 28 December.
140 deaths
The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, which killed about 138,000 people, is 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.
Other rankings
- The deadliest disasters in history
- The deadliest earthquakes in history
- The worst disasters in France
- The deadliest volcanic eruptions
- The deadliest pandemics in history
- The deadliest floods
- The worst industrial and nuclear disasters
- The costliest disasters in history
Explore it on the 3D globe. See this disaster among 88 of the major disasters in history, from Pompeii to the present day, with its spread, its timeline and comparable events.
Explore the globe