From bone-chilling blizzards and hurricane-force winds to devastating droughts and biblical floods, we look at some of the most dramatic and deadly weather events that have beset the world from the 1900s to today.

The deadliest natural disaster in US history took place on 8 September, 1900 when a category four hurricane ripped apart the island city of Galveston on Texas’s Gulf Coast. The estimated death toll of 6-12,000 people was a result of extreme winds, flying debris and storm swells that submerging the city. Residents were caught unawares as US meteorologists had underestimated warnings from Cuba about the incoming storm and its direction.

The weather system that hit the Great Lakes Basin on 27 to 28 November 1905 became known as the "Mataafa Blow” after the steamship it ran aground and broke in two as it approached Duluth, Minnesota. The ferocious winds and waves whipped up by the storm destroyed or damaged around 29 vessels in total and killed 36 seamen.

Strong waves and storm surges pounded the Gulf coast during July 1909 when a hurricane made landfall near Velasco after intensifying from a tropical depression in the West Indies. There were numerous shipping incidents in the Caribbean and along the Texas coast, although thanks to its new seawall this time around blighted Galveston fared far better than elsewhere.

After an unusually rainy summer and autumn in 1909, water levels in Paris were alarmingly high. The situation became a crisis in January 1910 when the French capital flooded. Thousands of people were evacuated while those that stayed had to travel by boat or across wooden walkways that were erected over the submerged streets. The floods lasted for two months.

A raging wildfire that consumed parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington in 1910 is said to have led to the largest single fire in recorded US history. The inferno on 20 to 21 August was the result of strong winds fanning the embers of a series of forest fires that had broken out across the states in the dry summer months. There were at least 87 fatalities from the fire, 78 of those firefighters, and several towns were destroyed. The devastating blaze led to new prevention policies.

The notoriously weather-beaten Great Lakes Basin witnessed its worst ever storm during November 1913. Also known as the White Hurricane, the blizzards, thunderstorms, powerful winds, lethal waves and freezing spray of two different weather systems resulted in the deaths of 250 people and destruction of over 42 ships over a few days.

Intense winds and torrential rain swept into Cincinnati on 7 July 1915, and wreaked widespread damage and deaths. Trees, cars, signs, and streetcars were torn apart and blown over, buildings collapsed and boats capsized in the Ohio River. There were 38 recorded deaths due to the vicious windstorm.

Queensland in Australia has weathered a number of tropical storms over the centuries including a cyclone that struck the small township of Mackay in January 1918. The category four winds whipped up a tidal surge that destroyed 1,000 buildings and killed 30 people. The residents were stranded for five days before they managed to alert the rest of the country.

A deadly blizzard engulfed the East Coast in January 1922 with capital Washington, DC. recording a staggering 28 inches of snow. The snowbound city largely ground to halt during what is now known to be one of the worst snowstorms in US history. It became known as the Knickerbocker Storm after the collapse of the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre due to the accumulation of heavy snow. It killed 98 people.

Parts of the Midwest and the South were struck by a huge and destructive outbreak of tornadoes in March 1925, including the deadliest tornado in US history. The Great Tri-State Tornado on 18 March left a trail of destruction in its path from southeastern Missouri through southern Illinois and southwest Indiana. It killed 695 people and destroyed 15,000 homes. This image shows a toppled house which was carried for more than 50 feet (15.2m) by the gusts, which reached up to 300mph.

The most devastating river flood in US history took place in April 1927 after months of extreme rainfall swelled the Mississippi Delta and collapsed the entire levee system along the river. The flooding saw nearly 26,000 square miles in 170 counties in seven states inundated. The catastrophe, which hit Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana the worst, drove around 931,159 people from their homes and it’s thought between 250 and 1,000 people died.

A storm surge sent up the Thames by a depression in the North Sea on 7 January, 1928, saw the moat at the Tower of London fill for the first time in 80 years (pictured here) and floodwaters engulf some of the capital’s most historic buildings, including the Houses of Parliament. The flood also hit some of the city's poorest and most crowded basement dwellings. Fourteen people died and many became homeless after the tidal surge.

A monstrous category four hurricane ravaged Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast in September 1928. In the US, the storm made landfall near West Palm Beach in Florida on 17 September, destroying many buildings in its wake. A storm surge caused Lake Okeechobee to flood, resulting in at least 2,500 people drowning and houses being swept away.

It’s thought the Central China Flood, from July to November 1931, could have killed as many as 3.7 million people, not only from drowning but as a result of the famine and disease that ensued. The most destructive flood in Chinese history, and one of the world's deadliest natural disasters, occurred after a summer of torrential rains and several severe storms. The Yangtze, Yellow and Huai Rivers all burst through their dikes in the August and September and flooded an area larger than the size of England.

Violent winds and tidal waves swept into Belize, or British Honduras as it was then called, on 10 September 1931 in what was the worst hurricane in its history. Belize City was inundated with at least 5 feet (1.5m) of water, leading to the drowning of many residents. An estimated 2,500 people perished.

One of the most violent typhoons to ever strike Japan, the Muroto first made landfall at Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture on 20 September 1934. A powerful storm surge and extreme winds in Osaka, which was the hardest hit, damaged and destroyed buildings and led to extensive loss of life. The potent storm caused 2,702 fatalities and 334 missing people in total.

Years of sustained drought caused the Dust Bowl, the name given to the parched Southern Plains region in the 1930s. During the drought there were many dramatic dust storms, referred to as “black blizzards” and caused by high winds stirring the dusty topsoil. The worst storm happened on 14 April 1935 when severe dust storms spread east from the Oklahoma Panhandle. It was coined Black Sunday.

Parts of New England were ravished by vicious winds of up to 183mph and deadly waves when a hurricane gusted west along from near the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic and struck Long Island on 3 October 1938. Katharine Hepburn’s Connecticut beach house was one of 8,900 homes swept into the sea as a result of powerful storm surges. The surge of water pushed ahead by the hurricane caused the most damage: the water reached up to 25 feet (7.6m).

While it wasn’t quite the deluge of the historic 1910 flood, a swollen River Seine burst its banks once again in 1944, flooding Paris’s embankments and piers. The newly liberated Parisians went about their business by boat and along precarious looking wooden walkways set up above the rising water.

Post-war Britain was belted with a bitterly cold winter in 1947 and record amounts of snow fell over six weeks. Snow drifts of up to 10 feet (3m) were recorded and led to blocked roads and railways around the country as well as stranded communities and livestock left to perish in snowbound fields. The armed forces were called upon to clear the snowdrifts.

France’s deadliest forest fire tore through the Landes forest in the southwest in the summer of 1949. Fuelled by three hot and dry summers and fanned by strong northeasterly winds, the flames devastated the forest and killed 82 people as they battled the inferno.

It had been an exceptionally rainy summer but little did the residents of Lynmouth in north Devon know that a 20-foot (6m) wave was about to tear apart the community on the night of 15 August 1952 after nine inches of rain fell in 24 hours. A destructive wall of water surged down a narrow valley from Exmoor, uprooting trees and boulders on its way. Buildings and bridges were obliterated and cars swept away to sea in the disaster, which killed 34 people.

Another dramatic weather event saw post-war Britain suffer more causalities when a toxic smog choked London on 5 December 1952. The smog, a result of fog combining with sulphurous coal smoke, could not disperse upwards as a high-pressure weather system trapped the stagnant and soot-laden air. It lasted for five days, paralysed the city, and is thought to have led to the premature deaths of at least 4,000 people. The Clean Air Act was introduced as a direct result of the crisis.

One of Europe’s most dramatic weather events took place on 31 January 1953 when hurricane-force winds gathering over the North Sea caused a mighty storm surge. The wall of water barrelled towards the Netherlands, Britain’s east coast and parts of Germany and Belgium. In the former, the flooding, which became known as Watersnoodramp, led to at least 1,800 deaths and an extensive loss of livestock and property damage. It was the Netherlands' worst natural disaster.

The powerful storm also decimated parts of the UK, killing 307 people. The ferry MV Princess Victoria sank off the County Down coast in the treacherous weather with the loss of 133 lives. Canvey Island in the Thames estuary was one of the worst hit on the UK’s eastern coast. The low-lying island was impacted by the tidal surge and engulfed by flooding. Tragically 59 people died, many dying from exposure while awaiting rescuing on the cold evening on their rooftops. Around 13,000 were evacuated. 

Violent winds and unrelenting rains wreaked chaos on Toronto from 15-16 October 1954. The horrific hurricane, which caused flooding in the city area and washed away roads, bridges and houses, left 1,900 homeless and led to 81 deaths. The storm also struck Haiti and South Carolina. It was the most destructive storm in Canada's history.

Burt Lancaster and Zsa Zsa Gabor were among the Hollywood elite who lost homes during the Bel Air Fire, one of the City of Angel's most destructive infernos which engulfed the exclusive Bel Air community on 5 November 1961. It started as a brush fire that was fuelled by strong Santa Ana winds. The fast-moving wildfire went on to scorch through 16,000 acres. Lancaster’s property (pictured) was totally destroyed.

An intense storm in the North Sea on 17 February 1962 led to wide-scale flooding and destruction in parts of coastal Germany. The storm’s 120 mph winds caused a powerful storm surge that rose 10 feet (3m) above the highest tide. The port city of Hamburg suffered the most as a sixth of it flooded, over 6,000 buildings were destroyed and 315 people died.

Hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured in communities near the Mediterranean port city of Barcelona as heavy rains sparked flash floods that destroyed anything in their wake on 27 September 1962. After two hours of intense rainfall, strong winds pushed the flood waters and mudslides through the region, crumpling factories, homes and cars.

Florence’s historic centre is renowned for floods of tourists but it was a dramatically different scene in November 1966 when the Arno River overflowed and sparked Florence’s most devastating natural disaster in modern times. The flooding, which reached 10 feet (3m) above street level in some places, killed 35 people and caused extensive damage to homes, buildings and treasured artworks including some in the Uffizi Gallery.

You might not associate tornadoes with Europe but the weather phenomena is not uncommon. In fact, six tornadoes struck France, Belgium, and the Netherlands during the month of June in 1967. One powerful storm on 26 June charged through villages such as Pommereuil in northern France, destroying homes and buildings and killing several people.

A deadly tropical storm that struck Bangladesh – or East Pakistan as it was known at the time – in November 1970 led to the greatest loss of lives ever due to a cyclone. It’s thought between 300,000 and 500,000 people perished as a result of the treacherous storm that formed over the Bay of Bengal. This image shows the coastal area of Patuakhali, which was left littered with dead cattle after the powerful winds and tidal wave wreaked havoc. 

At the time it struck, Hurricane Agnes was the costliest hurricane in US history. As well as extensive damage to property and industry, the winds, rain and floods killed 122 people across eight states in the eastern part of the country. Apalachicola bore the brunt of Agnes as the hurricane first made landfall on Florida’s coast on 23 June 1972, suffering about £7.6 million ($10m) in damages then. The storm also caused terrible flooding in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Christmas took a tragic turn for the people of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory in 1974 when the city was pretty much wiped out by the voracious Cyclone Tracy. The category four hurricane barrelled in from the northern coast on Christmas Eve and destroyed around 90% of the city, killing 71 and making thousands homeless. At the airport, 31 planes were destroyed and another 25 severely damaged. It is Australia’s worst cyclone in terms of both deaths and damage.

The UK suffered both its worst drought in 150 years in the year of 1976 and a record hot summer when a lingering high pressure system saw temperatures reach above 30°C (85°F) for 18 consecutive days. Despite the delight of months of blue skies and endless sunshine, the country’s hottest summer for three centuries meant water supplies reached dangerously low levels. So much so that a Minister for Drought was appointed.

One of the worst winter storms in living memory blasted across parts of the USA in 1978 causing blizzards and frigid temperatures. A historic nor'easter in early February brought blizzard conditions to New England, New Jersey and New York City in the February with hurricane-force winds, white outs and snow drifts trapping drivers, workers and families in their homes. Combined with spring high tides, severe flooding also destroyed many homes on Long Island Sound and Cape Cod Bay.

The worst effects of a drought from 1981 until 1984, combined with border conflicts, contributed to a major famine in Ethiopia. Northern Ethiopia is a drought-prone part of the world and in this period shortfalls of rain had caused repeated failed harvests. According to the United Nations, the food shortages from 1983 to 1985 caused over one million famine deaths and hundreds of thousands being displaced.

One of the worst bushfire disasters in Australia's history overwhelmed parts of Victoria and South Australia in February 1983. As extreme temperatures and gale-force winds in both states fuelled the inferno and hampered firefighters, a state of emergency was declared. The wildfire occurred during one the worst droughts in Australia's history and caused a huge dust cloud to descend on the city of Melbourne. It became known as Ash Wednesday: 75 people died and over 3,000 homes were destroyed.

Sadly Bangladesh has been blighted with many devastating weather events including severe cyclonic storms and coastal flooding during monsoon season. The capital Dhaka was severely affected during some catastrophic floods in July and August of 1987, which afflicted 40% of the country. It was the country’s worst flood in decades.

Now known as a sting jet, a violent storm raged across England on the night of 15-16 October and resulted in 18 deaths and widespread damage, including the loss of 15 million trees. There were also causalities in France and the Channel Islands. BBC weatherman Michael Fish infamously dismissed concerns about an approaching hurricane with the words: "Don't worry, there isn't”. Later gusts of up to 115mph were recorded on the Kent coast. 

Wind gusts of 140mph, heavy rains and monstrous waves left a trail of devastation through Guadeloupe, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in September 1989. Hugo, as the hurricane that formed over the eastern Atlantic near Cape Verde became known, struck land once again in South Carolina. At its peak it was classified a category five hurricane. When it swept across Guadeloupe (pictured) it left 20 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Several catastrophic floods struck China in the 1990s including one in 1996 that saw parts of central China suffer some of the worst flooding in two centuries. Torrential rains caused the Yangtze River to surge and breach its barriers. Thousands died and fragile communities were devastated. According to UN figures, reported in 1996, more than 2,000 died in floods in 1995; more than 5,000 in 1994, and 5,000 lost their lives in 1991, which saw the largest flood of the decade.

Category five Hurricane Andrew clobbered South Florida during the night of August 24, 1992 with winds of up to 175mph. It was one of the biggest natural disasters in American history, causing 61 deaths and an estimated £20.6 billion ($27bn) in damage. The long-lasting impact of Hurricane Andrew led to major changes to the state’s storm preparation strategies.

Hurricane-force winds and stormy seas in the Shetland Isles sparked concerns of an ecological disaster when the Braer oil tanker ran aground, spilling almost 85,000 tonnes of crude oil. The tanker lost power in the ferocious storm and went on to hit rocks on the south tip of Shetland on 5 January 1993. While thousands of birds perished and many marine animals were affected, in the end the bad weather helped limit the damage by sweeping the oil out to sea.

Honduras was the first country to be torn apart by Hurricane Mitch, a deadly storm that struck Central America in late September 1998. Severe floods and mudslides saw villages swept away and thousands killed. Nicaragua was also hard hit by Mitch. Its intensity lessened and it reached Florida as a tropical storm in November. In total, more than 11,000 people died.

Incessant rains that struck northern Venezuela caused an unstoppable wall of water, boulders and debris to sweep down the side of the Avila mountain in the Vargas state. The floods and mudslides took place between 14-16 December in 1999 and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

On 29 August 2005, New Orleans was lashed by one of the biggest hurricanes the South had ever seen. It started as a tropical depression over the Bahamas but by the time it struck Louisiana, winds of more than 100mph pummelled the city, causing damage to property and catastrophic flooding. It led to 1,833 deaths and displaced more than 400,000 residents.

Container ship MSC Napoli was destroyed by a powerful wind storm in the English Channel in mid-January 2007. Hurricane Kyrill also hit other parts of western Europe, leading to 44 deaths and damage to an estimated 75 million trees.

Some of the worst wildfires in Greece ravaged parts of the parched country during the scorching summer of 2007. Southern Europe's intense heatwave, which saw the capital of Athens reach temperatures of 45°C (115°F) in the shade, sparked forest fires which were then fanned by high winds. There were ferocious fires in the Peloponnese and on the fringes of Athens too. 

Galveston in Texas was hit by another powerful hurricane 108 years after the 1900 storm decimated the island city. Hurricane Ike made landfall in the US here on 13 September 2008, leading to a storm surge in coastal Texas and severe flooding damage. It also led to great destruction and loss of life in Haiti and Cuba.

An ominous red haze hung over Sydney in September 2009 after severe winds in New South Wales blew in red dust from the state’s drought-ravaged interior. The weather saw flights grounded, ferries suspended and Sydneysiders choking in the polluted air.

Thailand suffered its worst floods in decades during 2011 and 2012. They were triggered by heavy monsoon rain. More than a third of the country's provinces were inundated with water, including parts of Bangkok and UNESCO World Heritage site Chaiwattanaram Temple in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya (pictured). The floods resulted in over 800 deaths and also affected Cambodia and Vietnam.

The worst monsoonal floods in a century led to extensive loss of life and damage across the southern Indian state of Kerala in August 2018. Torrential rain in a short space of time led to landslides and sent torrents crashing through villages. Thousands of people were marooned and rescue efforts were hampered by high winds.

It snowed in the Sahara for only the third time in 40 years during January 2018. The rare weather event happened near the Algerian town of Aïn Séfra and saw desert dunes covered in a deep layer of the white stuff.

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