List of floods

The following is a list of major floods.

List of notable floods

20th century BC

* Jishi Gorge outburst flood about 1920 BC

14th century

* Saint Marcellus's flood a storm tide is also called the "Second St. Marcellus flood".
* St. Mary Magdalene's flood occurred on and around the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, 25 July; the passage of a Genoa low the rivers Rhine, Moselle, Main, Danube, Weser, Werra, Unstrut, Elbe, Vltava and their tributaries inundated large areas. Even the river Eider north of Hamburg flooded the surrounding land. Many towns such as Cologne, Mainz, Frankfurt am Main, Würzburg, Regensburg, Passau and Vienna were seriously damaged. The affected area extended to Carinthia and northern Italy. The overall number of casualties is not known, but it is believed that in the Danube area alone 6000 people were killed.

15th century

* The All Saints Day Flood of 1436 (german: link=no, Allerheiligenflut) on All Saints' Day (1 November) 1436 was a storm tide that hit the entire North Sea coast of the German Bight. In the North Frisian village of Tetenbüll alone 173 people died. Eidum on the island of Sylt was destroyed; its inhabitants left and founded the village of Westerland as a result. List on Sylt was also abandoned after the floods and rebuilt further west. Dykes burst along the river Oste and in Kehdingen. The island of Pellworm was separated from neighbouring Nordstrand, Germany and only diked again in 1550.

16th century

* 1530 St. Felix's flood
* Mississippi River Flood of March 1543. The flooding reportedly lasted for 40 days.

17th century

* The California Flood of 1605 was caused by heavy rains and covered many parts of California in water.
* The Burchardi Flood was a storm tide that struck the North Sea coast of North Frisia and Dithmarschen on the night between 11 and 12 October 1634. Overrunning dikes, it shattered the coastline and caused thousands of deaths (8,000 to 15,000 people drowned).

18th century

* Christmas Flood of 1717. Flood in Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia. 14,000 drowned.
* Mississippi River Flood of December 1734 to June 1735. New Orleans was inundated by the flooding.
* New Hampshire Flood of 1740. The Merrimack River flooded in December. It is the first recorded flood in New Hampshire history.
* New Hampshire/Maine Flood of October 1785. In New Hampshire, a significant flood struck the Cocheco, Baker, Pemigewasset, Contoocook and Merrimack rivers on 23 October which established records at Lowell which held until 1902.NewHampshire.co
NH floods.
Retrieved on 2007-05-05. The Androscoggin River flooded significantly, which destroyed many homesteads in what would become Bethel, Maine. Those that survived the flood moved uphill into less valuable, plots. Turner's first mill was destroyed during this inundation.
* Great Pumpkin Flood of October 1786. Central Pennsylvania flood. Received its name due to the pumpkins that were washed away in the flood on 5 October. It was a major flood in the Susquehanna River basin.
* Mississippi River Flood of July 1788. Severe flooding of the Mississippi River resulted from a hurricane landfall
* Storofsen, Norway, flood of July 1789
* Red River of the South flood of 1800. According to the Caddo tribe, a "great flood" moved down the river and reinforced the "Great Log Raft" on the river. This raft was a natural dam that increased water levels on some of the Red River tributaries. This process formed Caddo Lake.

19th century

* Mississippi River Flood of 1809. All of the lower Mississippi River was inundated by flooding.
* Mississippi River Flood of 1825. The flood of 1825 is the last known inundation of New Orleans due to spring flooding
* Great Mississippi River Flood of 1844. The largest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River in terms of discharge. This flood was particularly devastating since the region had few if any levees at the time. Among the hardest hit were the Wyandot who lost 100 people in the diseases that occurred after the flood. The flood also is the highest recorded for the Mississippi River at St. Louis. After the flood, Congress in 1849 passed the Swamp Act providing land grants to build stronger levees.
* Great Mississippi River Flood of 1851. The flood occurred after record-setting rainfalls across the U.S. Midwest and Plains from May to August 1851. The State of Iowa experienced significant flooding extending to the Lower Mississippi River basin. Historical evidence suggest flooding occurred in the eastern Plains, from Nebraska to the Red River basin, but these areas were sparsely settled in 1851. Heavy rainfall also occurred in the Ohio River basin. In June, major flooding on the Mississippi River was experienced.
* The Great Flood of 1862. Struck the west coast of North America in December 1861 and January 1862. An atmospheric river from the tropics brought 43 days of rain to the U.S. states of California, Utah and Oregon as well as the Mexican state of Sonora. It was the worst disaster ever to strike California; the state's Central Valley was effectively an inland sea for months afterwards. State government temporarily moved to San Francisco because the capital, Sacramento, was under 10 feet (3.3 m) of water; the damage and the ensuing shortfall in tax revenues nearly bankrupted the state.
* The 1872 Baltic Sea flood. Storm surge that affected the Baltic Sea coast from Denmark to Pomerania on the night of 12–13 November 1872. The flood cost the lives of at least 271 people on the Baltic Sea coast; 2,850 houses were destroyed or at least badly damaged and 15,160 people left homeless as a result.
* Great Mississippi River Flood of 1874. Heavy spring rains caused the Mississippi River to overflow, breaching levees and flooding enormous swathes of the Lower Mississippi Valley. The flooding began in February and only began to recede on 20 May. According to the New Orleans '' Daily Picayune'' of 3 May, thirty-one of Louisiana's fifty-three parishes (home to some 375,000 people) were entirely or partially underwater. The ''Picayune'' also reported that breaches at Hushpakana 'sic.''/sup> and Bolivar, Mississippi, had "transformed the Yazoo Valley into an inland lake." Mayor Louis A. Wiltz of New Orleans published a circular on 30 May addressed to "the Mayors of thirty-four large American cities" seeking contributions of cash and provisions for relief efforts. In the circular, the Flood of 1874 was described as the highest on record. It also included the observations of former U.S. Surveyor General for Louisiana William J. McCulloh, who estimated that a total of 12,565,060 acres had been flooded across Louisiana (8,065,000), Mississippi (2,500,000), and Arkansas (2,000,000).
* Mississippi River Flood of 1882. Intense spring rain storms, beginning on 19 February 1882, led to a rapid rise of the Ohio River and flooding along the river from Cincinnati to St. Louis. The effects were much more devastating in the Lower Mississippi Valley, with an estimated 20,000 people made homeless in Arkansas alone. Such was the devastation that, in its wake, Southern Democrats and Midwestern Republicans in Congress hailing from those states afflicted by the flooding made common cause to increase appropriations for the Rivers and Harbor Act to $19 million, $5.4 million of which was earmarked for internal improvements and federal aid to the flooded areas. While not opposed to internal improvements on principle, President Chester A. Arthur nonetheless vetoed the Act on 1 August 1882. Congress overrode his veto the following day.
* In 1889, the South Fork Dam broke, causing the massive Johnstown Flood of 1889 that took 2,209 lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
* On 8 September 1900, in Galveston, Texas, a storm made landfall, leaving about 7,000 to 12,000 dead. It remains to the present day the deadliest single-day event in US history.

1910s

* In January 1910, large areas of Paris were flooded when the river burst its banks.
* In June 1910 heavy rains caused extreme flooding throughout central Europe killing more than 1200 people.
* In 1920, The Great Flood of Tokyo, when 37 houses were swept away, 2200 were partially destroyed, and nearly 400,000 were damaged.
* The Great Flood of 1913, which included the Great Dayton Flood, killed 650 people and destroyed 20,000 homes in the United States. It also damaged historic photographic plates belonging to Wilbur and Orville Wright. It ended canal transportation in Ohio.
* The 1916 Clermont, Queensland flood was the worst flood in Clermont history.
* The Hatfield Flood of San Diego, United States, of 1916 destroyed the Lower Otay Dam, damaged the Sweetwater Dam, and caused 22 deaths and $4.5 million in damages.

1920s

* The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the most destructive floods in United States history and the impetus for many later Flood Control Acts.
* The Great Vermont Flood of 1927 which destroyed over 1200 bridges in Vermont, and one of the biggest floods in its history.
* The 1929 New Zealand cyclone caused the deepest flood ever to hit the city of Dunedin.

1930s

* The 1931 Yellow River flood caused between 800,000 and 4,000,000 deaths in China, one of a series of disastrous floods on the Yellow River. It was one of the worst floods in history.
* The Ohio River flood of 1937 occurred in late January and February 1937, causing damage along the Ohio River and several smaller tributaries from Pittsburgh, Illinois, to Cairo, Illinois. This flood left close to one million people homeless, 385 dead, and $50,000,000 worth of damage.
* The Los Angeles flood of 1938 occurred from late February to early March 1938, causing the Los Angeles River and the Santa Ana River to overflow, causing $40,000,000 worth of damage and causing 115 lives to be lost.
* The 1938 Hanshin flood occurred in July 1938 in Kobe area in Japan, causing 925 lost lives as exceptionally heavy seasonal raining caused landsides at Rokko mountains.

1940s

* 1948 Columbia River flood
* The 1948 Berwickshire flood occurred on 12 August, when extremely heavy rain for the preceding six days caused the rivers Tweed, Blackadder, Whiteadder, Till and Eye Water in southern Scotland to rise more than 10 feet and wash away 20 bridges. Railway service was interrupted for months.

1950s

* The Lynmouth flood of 1952 killed 34 people, more than any other British flood up to then, it was also very destructive and destroyed over 80 buildings in the town of Lynmouth, Devon, United Kingdom.
* The North Sea Flood of 1953 caused over 2,000 deaths in the Dutch province of Zeeland and the about 50 in the United Kingdom (the coastlines of East Anglia and Lincolnshire were worst hit) and led to the construction of the Delta Works in the Netherlands and the Thames Barrier in London.
* 1953 North Kyushu Flood killed at least 890 and the killed and missing amounted to 1,001 in the northern Kyushu area of Japan.
* On 15 October 1954, Hurricane Hazel struck Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The resulting rainfall flooded the city, killing 81 people, destroying 20 bridges, and leaving over 2000 people homeless.
* The Hunter Valley floods of 1955 in New South Wales (Australia) destroyed over 100 homes and caused 45,000 to be evacuated.
* 1957 Isahaya flood, due heavy torrential massive rain, maximum 1,108 mm (43.62 inches) in single day on July 24, 1957, following debris flow hit in Honmyō River and flash flood hit in Isahaya, Kyushu Island, Japan. 586 persons were perished in Isahaya, and overall death toll was 992, with 3,860 persons were hurt, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report.
* In 1957, the storm surge from Hurricane Audrey flooded southwest Louisiana, killing about 400 people.
* In 1957, the Great flood of Valencia in Spain.
* In 1959, the Río Negro flooded the central region of Uruguay, with disastrous consequences.

1960s

* In the year 1960, flooding from a deadly tsunami caused by the Great Chilean earthquake affected the towns of Riñihue, Riñihuazo, Los Lagos, Antilhue, Pishuinco, and Valdivia (all in Chile).
* The North Sea flood of 1962 killed almost 330 people along the coasts of southeastern England, Germany, and southern Denmark. 318 of the deaths occurred in Hamburg, Germany, and many millions of pounds' worth of damage was done.
* On 25 October 1964, high water due to heavy rains upstream caused the River Sava to overflow its embankments in Zagreb, Croatia, killing 17 people, flooding much of the city, and causing devastating material damage.
*An earthquake in 1965 triggered the failure of six dams, two of which released millions of tonnes of water and debris that wiped away the town of El Cobre in the Valparaiso Region of Chile.
* In 1965, Hurricane Betsy flooded large areas of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, for up to 10 days, drowning around 40 people.
* In 1966, the flood of the Arno River killed dozens of people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books in Florence, Italy.

1970s

* On the night of 9 June 1972 the people of Rapid City, South Dakota in the United States were struck by a deadly flood that lasted two days. It took 238 lives and caused millions of dollars in damage.
* In 1974, the dying cyclone Wanda triggered major flooding in Brisbane, Australia killing 6 people and leaving hundreds homeless.
* On 2 July 1975, many areas of Romanian Cuverture Charpatinas (e.g. Buzau, Prahova County), were struck by major flooding.
* In August 1975, the Banqiao Dam in China breaks apart under excess rainfall and damage from Typhoon Nina, drowning about 26,000 and caused the lives of another 140,000 in resulting epidemics.
* On July 31, 1976, a nearly stationary thunderstorm caused a major flash flood in the infamous Big Thompson River Canyon, claiming 139 lives. This occurred on the eve of Colorado's centennial.

1980s

* During the 1980s, the Great Salt Lake reached record high water levels due to a large amount of rain and its lack of an outlet. Places such as Saltair were inundated.
* The South African town of Laingsburg was basically destroyed on 25 January 1981, when 104 of its 900 inhabitants died during a flood that swept through the town and left only about 25 houses standing
* In 1982, the river Jucar in Spain breaks the Tous Reservoir, flooding the surrounding land in a deluge of 16,000 m³/s of water, and killing 30 people.
* In the winter of 1983, the Pacific Northwest of the United States saw one of the worst floods on record for that region, and some states recorded their wettest winter ever. Damage estimates are as high as $1.1 billion.
* Bangladesh floods

1990–2000

= 1992–1993

=
* January 1992 saw severe floods in South America, most notably Brazil.
* In Alaska, United States, from May to September 1992 it was unusually wet, causing the 100 year flood. Snow melt only made the floods worse.
* The Great Flood of 1993 was one of the most destructive floods in United States history.
* March 1993 the "No Name" storm, silently brought major flooding to Citrus County, Florida.
* The summer of 1993 was unusually wet for the United States, causing flooding in the southwest.
* The 1993 India floods was one of the deadliest floods in the history of India.

= 1994–1995

=
* 1994 South Georgina floods
* On 8 May 1995, severe floods caused extensive damage in Louisiana, United States.
* 1994-August, Massive Flood in Surat and burst of pneumonic plague

= 1996–1997

=
* 1996 Pacific Northwest floods
* A dying typhoon hit Kyushu, Japan, in September 1996, causing severe floods in that region.
* July 1996 saw severe floods in Central Honshū, Japan.
* In August 1996, 86 people died due to a flood in ''Las Nieves'' camping, in Biescas, Spain.
* 1997 Central European flood, the worst flood in Polish history hits the country in July 1997, killing 65 and causing extensive damage to Wroclaw and Opole.
* The Red River Flood of 1997 (also called the Red River of the North Flood of 1997 in the United States) occurred in April and May 1997 along the Red River of the North in North Dakota, Minnesota (United States) and Manitoba. It was the most severe flooding of the river since 1826, causing so much water or camping down (?) water or not draining it all.

= 1998–2000

=
* Bangladesh was flooded in 1998, with millions of people affected and hundreds killed.
* The 1999 Pentecost flood (german: Pfingsthochwasser) was a 100-year flood around the Pentecost season in 1999 that mostly affected Bavaria, Vorarlberg and Tirol. It was caused by heavy rainfall coinciding with the regular Alpine meltwater. These were caused because of the low-lying area and they are replacing concrete with soil which affects the flow of water and can cause flash flooding.
*The 2000 Mozambique flood, caused by heavy rains followed by a cyclone, covered much of the country for three weeks, killing thousands, leaving the country devastated for years afterwards.

21st century

2000s

= 2001

=
*In June 2001, floods from Tropical Storm Allison killed over 30 people in the Houston, Texas, area.

= 2002–2003

=
* The 2002 Northern Chile floods and mudflow, hit Coquimbo and Valparaíso regions in Chile in June 2002 causing the deaths of 17 people.
* In 2002, the 2002 Glasgow floods hit Glasgow, Scotland, causing severe damage.
* In 2002, the 2002 European floods hit Central Europe, causing major damage.
* On October 22, 2003, a large part of Western Sahara was hit by torrential rains, causing flooding.

= 2004–2005

=
* The 2004 Boscastle flood on 16 August in the village of Boscastle, Cornwall, United Kingdom, caused much damage to buildings in the Valency River valley. Further flooding took place in surrounding valleys, and in the town of Camelford.
* In January 2005, flooding on the rivers Eden, Kent, Derwent, Greta and Cocker as well as others in Cumbria, England, flooded around 2,000 properties and caused in excess of £250 million of damage. At the time, it was the worst flood in Cumbrian history, but has since been overtaken by the Cumbria flooding of November 2009.
* One of Canada's most devastating floods occurred in southern Alberta in June 2005. The flooding affected many major metropolitan areas including Calgary. 4 deaths resulted from the three-week flood.
* Flooding in Mumbai, India, in July 2005 left over 700 dead. Some areas went under 5 m of water.
* Eighty percent of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, was flooded due to the failure of several levees on 29 August 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. 1,833 people also died because of the hurricane.
* Record rain across eastern Europe in August 2005 caused very severe flooding.
* In November 2005, in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, many villages were isolated due to heavy rains caused by low-pressure areas in the Bay of Bengal.

= 2006–2007

=
* From April 19 to 21 of 2006, a large part of Namibia's coast was hit by floods.
* Korea (both North Korea and South Korea) saw one of its worst floods ever in May 2006.
* The Mid-Atlantic States flood of 2006 in the eastern United States is considered to be the worst in that region since the flooding caused by Hurricane David in 1979.
* Ethiopia saw one of its worst floods ever in August 2006.
* Surat, a city of 5 million people in India, witnessed the largest flood in its history during 4 to 10 August 2006. Water discharged for 30 hours from Ukai dam, which flooded the city.
* Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Sabah suffered floods between December 2006 and January 2007. It killed hundreds and forced 100,000 people to be evacuated in Johor alone. Floods hit the country's capital Kuala Lumpur in January 2007, killing 80. It was the worst flood in Malaysia for over 100 years.
* The 2007 Hunter Floods inundated large areas of the cities of Maitland and Newcastle in Australia in June 2007, claimed 11 lives and forced the evacuation of 4,000 people in Central Maitland.
* Between late May 2007 and early August 2007, severe flash floods hit most of the United Kingdom, with the most affected area in the country being Yorkshire. The city of Sheffield (in Yorkshire) was the worst affected city in the country, a month's worth of rain fell on the city in just 18 hours on 25 June 2007, bursting the banks of the River Don in that city. There were also fears that the Ulley Reservoir in Sheffield would fail, if it did it would have killed hundreds. 6 people were killed across the country.
* The 2007 Africa Floods was one of the worst and most destructive floods in recorded history on the continent of Africa with 14 countries affected.
* In November 2007, Cyclone Guba, a slow moving storm caused deadly flooding in Papua New Guinea.
* The 2008 Indian floods affected several states in India between July 2008 and September 2008 during an unusually wet monsoon season. The floods caused severe damage, and killed an estimated 2404 people.

= 2008–2009

=
* 2008 Santa Catarina floods
* 2009 Brazilian floods and mudslides
* In June 2009, minor flooding hit parts of Sheffield City Centre in Sheffield, England. Waters reached only about half a foot deep as the River Don broke its banks, but considerable damage was still caused.
* In November 2009, record-breaking amounts of rain were dumped on Cumbria, England and Cork, Ireland, causing minor floods in Cork and major floods in Cumbria. During the floods, waters reached a UK record 8 ft deep in Cockermouth, Cumbria.

= 2010

=
* January 2010 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides
* Rio de Janeiro had its worst ever flood that killed over 250 people in April 2010.
* 2010 Northeastern Brazil floods
* Between June 2010 and August 2010, flooding in China affected more than 230 million people – with 15.2 million people evacuated and thousands dead.
* On 26 July 2010, heavy monsoon rains flooded most of Pakistan in the 2010 Pakistan floods.
* On 4 August 2010, at 9:25 am EST a major thunderstorm producing large hail and winds in excess of 60 mph (97 km/h) advanced at the leading edge of a cold front moving across the American Midwest, causing a flash flood that struck Louisville, Kentucky, and portions of the surrounding Kentuckiana region.
* In November 2010, many areas of Cornwall, UK, were struck by floods. The worst hit area was the town of Par.
* The November 2010 Colombia floods and associated landslides killed 138 people. 1.3 million were left homeless.
* The November 2010 Thailand floods and 2010 north Malaysian floods.
* The 2010–2011 Queensland floods are some of the worst the country of Australia has ever seen.

2010s

= 2011

=

* The January 2011 Brazil floods are considered the worst in the country's history. As of 18 January 2011, the floods had taken about 700 lives and 14,000 people were homeless mainly due to landslides.
* The Mississippi River floods in April and May 2011 were among the largest and most damaging recorded along the U.S. waterway.
* In June 2011, flooding in China affected more than 4.8 million people, with 100,000 evacuated and 54 reported dead.
* In late July, the 2011 Thailand floods spread through the provinces of Northern, Northeastern and Central Thailand along the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins and persisted in some areas until mid-January 2012.
* In August–September 2011, there was floods in Khammouane Province in Laos, and then in northeastern Thailand, then came to Cambodia, and was drained via Mekong river to Vietnam then South China Sea.
* On 18 October 2011, Pulau Tioman of Malaysia was flooded in Kampung Tekek, and the jungle near the village, then came up to Salang on 23 October 2011, the drain was started in November.
* Around November 2011, northern part of Malaysia was flooded, and then to Narathiwat Province in Thailand.

= 2012

=

* In July 2012, heavy torrential rains caused floods in Kyushu, Japan, leaving 32 people dead or missing.
* In 2012 Great Britain and Ireland floods caused many floods in the United Kingdom, in April floods and gales hit most of England causing flooding and power outages, on 28 June 2012 there were two severe supercell thunderstorms which traveled across the West Midlands causing flash flooding, on 6 July 2012 heavy rainfall brought floods to the South West of England with the Met Office issuing red rain warnings, flooding later returned to the UK on 23 November 2012, as heavy persistent rainfall fell in South West England which caused rivers to burst their banks, the rain later pushed into the Midlands overnight causing more flooding, on 26 November 2012 another band of rain pushed into South West England, The Environment Agency issued three severe flood warnings for the South West England and 90 flood warnings, the following day the Environment Agency issued 110 flood warning for the Midlands, most of which were for the River Avon and the River Severn.

= 2013

=

* The 2013 North India floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall. The floods struck the state of Uttarakhand. These floods killed 5,700 people.
* The 2013 European floods.
* 2013 Alberta flood — On 20 June 2013, widespread flooding in southern Alberta caused major damage in Canmore, Calgary and High River when the Cougar Creek, Highwood River, and other rivers and creeks overflowed caused by extensive rainfall. Other communities in the area were also affected, or were expected to be, by floods. Flooding also caused power outages and the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 1A, as well as many other highways and roads. A man and a woman were reported missing after a mobile home was swept into the Highwood River near the town of Black Diamond; the man was later rescued, but the woman remained missing.
* The 2013 Southwest China floods.
* The 2013 Afghanistan–Pakistan floods.
* 2013 Colorado floods. At least four dead after floods in Colorado.
* On 18 November 2013 the heavy flood caused by Cyclone Cleopatra killed 18 people in the Italian island of Sardinia.

= 2014

=

* Many parts of the United Kingdom experienced flooding at the start of this year. In January and then again in February the River Thames breached its banks resulting in severe flooding to many homes and properties in heavily populated parts of the Thames Valley area.
* In early April 2014, Cyclone Ita caused disastrous flooding across the Solomon Islands, killing at least 21 people.
* Between 2 and 30 April 2014, flood events in the United-States, caused by an important tornado outbreak.
* In May 2014, multiple floods affected a large area of Southeastern Europe. A low-pressure area named "Yvette" brought flooding from 14 to 16 May. Bosnia, Serbia and Romania were hit by the biggest flood in their modern history. Several cities were left behind without fresh water or food.
* In June 2014, a flash flood in the Baghlan province of Afghanistan killed at least 73.
* 2014 Alberta floods — On 18 June 2014 the city of Claresholm, Alberta awoke to find its city streets flooded, and states of emergency were declared for many areas in southern Alberta