The Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011, officially designated the “Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku, Japan Earthquake” by the Japan Meteorological Agency caused an unprecedentedly severe disaster in t
Snow, wind and frigid temperatures devastated parts of Wyoming and neighboring states in 1949. For nearly two months, towns and ranches were marooned by enormous drifts, some reportedly eighty feet ta
A powerful vibration, a deafening noise and a swell of thick dust brought residents of McKinney pouring into the public square on the afternoon of January 23, 1913. What they saw was horrifying--an en
On May 13, 1928, ten prominent men of Brockton, Massachusetts, headed off on a fishing trip to Moosehead Lake in Maine. After traveling fourteen hours, the group met Maine guide Samuel Budden and boar
The city of Syracuse and Onondaga County have a long and storied history of natural and man-made calamity. Although often considered a moderate weather region, Mother Nature has not spared it from des
Home to hundreds of faults, California leads the nation in frequency of earthquakes every year. Despite enduring their share of the natural disasters, residents still speculate over the inevitable big
Claiming the lives of seven adults and seventeen children, the Belvidere tornado struck the most vulnerable at the worst possible time: just as school let out. More than five hundred people suffered
On March 10, 1941, at 12:38 a.m., the Brockton Fire Department responded to Fire Alarm Box 1311, which was pulled for a fire at the Strand Theatre. Fire Alarm dispatched the deputy chief, three engine
Clear weather and a natural harbor made San Diego an early aviation hub, but success in flight came with devastating tragedies. The remains of more than four hundred aircrafts lie scattered across the
On July 16, 1815, a fire began in a small stable in Petersburg. After only a few hours, almost two-thirds of the city lay in ruins. Citizens stood on the banks of the Appomattox River and watched as w
Fall River's textile boom in the nineteenth century brought with it a series of fiery disasters. The Big Fire of 1843 left more than one thousand people homeless and destroyed two hundred buildings, a
Richmond has had its share of man-made and natural calamities throughout its illustrious history. In 1811, fire destroyed the Richmond Theatre on Broad Street, tragically claiming seventy-two lives in
In March 1921, Major John G. Thornell and his crew were detailed to Italy to procure a new experimental airship for the United States Army Air Service. Stationed at Langley Field in Hampton, the ROMA
On August 25, 1931, five men died fighting the devastating Waldron Creek Fire west of Choteau, Montana. Lacking training and preparation, Herbert Novotny, Frank Williamson, Hjalmer G. Gunnarson, Ted B
On February 11, 1907, the steamship Larchmont collided with the schooner Harry Knowlton. Thrown from their bunks, passengers of the Larchmont panicked and ran onto the ship's deck. Haphazardly loaded
The Wallingford tornado of 1878 took less than two minutes, but it killed at the rate of one person per second. Twisters in Connecticut are incredibly rare, but they're often disastrous and sometimes
"On March 22, 1990, local fishermen Hokey Hokanson and his teenage son, Billy, set sail for Cape Cod in the Sol e Mar. When disaster struck three days later, Billy transmitted a brief, heavily garbled
