Hurricanes & Cyclones
The great tropical cyclones — hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones — that drowned coasts and flattened cities across every warm ocean on Earth.
Part of Natural Disasters
90 moments in this segment.
- — The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635. One of the most intense hurricanes to strike New England hit the young Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies.
- — The 1737 Calcutta cyclone. A cyclone and storm surge struck the mouth of the Hooghly River near Calcutta, one of history's deadliest.
- — The Newfoundland hurricane of 1775. A hurricane killed thousands of fishermen off Newfoundland in 1775, one of the deadliest in Canadian history.
- — The Great Hurricane of 1780. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record killed over 22,000 across the Caribbean during the American Revolution.
- — The Great September Gale of 1815. A powerful hurricane struck New England in 1815, the worst until 1938.
- — The 1839 Coringa cyclone. A cyclone and storm surge destroyed the Indian port of Coringa, killing some 300,000 and erasing the town.
- — The Great Havana Hurricane of 1846. A hurricane devastated Havana in 1846, one of the most intense to strike Cuba in the 19th century.
- — The 1864 Calcutta cyclone. A cyclone drove a huge surge up the Hooghly into Calcutta in 1864, killing tens of thousands.
- — The 1876 Great Backerganj cyclone. A cyclone drove a huge surge into the Bengal delta, killing around 200,000.
- — The 1938 New England hurricane. The 'Long Island Express' struck New England without warning, killing nearly 700.
- — Hurricane Carol. struck New England hard in 1954, weeks before Hurricane Edna followed.
- — Hurricane Audrey. 's surge struck southwestern Louisiana with little warning in 1957, killing hundreds.
- — Typhoon Mireille. was one of the costliest to strike Japan in the 20th century, in 1991.
- — Typhoon Vera (Isewan). Japan's deadliest typhoon struck Nagoya with a huge storm surge, killing over 5,000.
- — Hurricane Donna. raked the entire U.S. East Coast from Florida to New England in 1960.
- — Typhoon Wanda. drove a deadly storm surge into Hong Kong's Tolo Harbour in 1962.
- — Hurricane Flora. stalled over Cuba and Haiti in 1963, its rains killing thousands.
- — Hurricane Betsy. 'Billion Dollar Betsy' flooded New Orleans in 1965, a grim rehearsal for Katrina forty years later.
- — The 1970 Bhola cyclone. A cyclone struck the Ganges Delta of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 300,000-500,000 — the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded.
- — Hurricane Fifi. 's rains caused catastrophic flooding in Honduras, killing thousands.
- — Hurricane Allen. was one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded, raking the Caribbean and Texas in 1980.
- — Hurricane Gilbert. One of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record, Gilbert devastated Jamaica and the Yucatán.
- — Hurricane Hugo. Hugo devastated the Caribbean and the Carolinas, one of the costliest hurricanes of its era.
- — Cyclone Gay. The 1991 Bay of Bengal cyclone drove a massive surge into Bangladesh, killing around 138,000.
- — Hurricane Andrew. A Category 5 hurricane flattened parts of South Florida, causing $27 billion in damage and rewriting how America builds for storms.
- — Hurricane Mitch. Mitch stalled over Central America, dropping catastrophic rain that killed over 11,000 in Honduras and Nicaragua.
- — The 1999 Odisha cyclone. The strongest tropical cyclone ever in the North Indian Ocean struck Odisha, India, killing about 10,000.
- — Hurricane Jeanne. Jeanne's rains triggered catastrophic floods and mudslides in Haiti, killing over 3,000.
- — Hurricane Katrina. Katrina's storm surge broke the levees of New Orleans, drowning 80% of the city and killing over 1,800 in a catastrophe of both nature and failed response.
- — Hurricane Katrina makes landfall. Katrina's winds and surge hammered the Mississippi and Louisiana coast before the levees failed.
- — Hurricane Rita. Weeks after Katrina, Rita struck the Texas-Louisiana border and triggered a chaotic mass evacuation.
- — Hurricane Wilma. The most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded by pressure, Wilma struck the Yucatán and Florida.
- — Typhoon Durian (Reming). Typhoon Durian's rains triggered deadly volcanic mudflows off Mayon in the Philippines in 2006.
- — Cyclone Gonu. the strongest on record in the Arabian Sea, struck Oman and Iran in 2007.
- — Cyclone Sidr. struck Bangladesh in 2007, killing thousands despite a huge evacuation.
- — Cyclone Nargis. struck Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, killing an estimated 138,000 as the ruling junta blocked international aid.
- — Tropical Storm Fay. set a record by making landfall in Florida four separate times in 2008.
- — Hurricane Ike. 's surge devastated Galveston and the Texas coast in 2008.
- — Typhoon Morakot. dumped record rain on Taiwan in 2009, burying the village of Xiaolin in a landslide.
- — Hurricane Sandy. Superstorm Sandy flooded New York City's subways and streets and battered the U.S. East Coast, a $70 billion warning about coastal cities.
- — Typhoon Bopha. devastated the southern Philippine island of Mindanao in 2012.
- — Cyclone Phailin. A huge cyclone struck India's east coast, but a mass evacuation of a million people kept deaths low.
- — Typhoon Haiyan. One of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, Haiyan devastated the central Philippines with a massive storm surge, killing over 6,000.
- — Surviving Typhoon Haiyan. Survivors filmed the storm surge tearing through Tacloban as they clung to rafters — some of the most harrowing disaster video ever.
- — Cyclone Pam. One of the worst disasters in Pacific history, Cyclone Pam devastated the island nation of Vanuatu.
- — Tropical Storm Erika. 's rains devastated the Caribbean island of Dominica in 2015.
- — Cyclone Winston. The strongest cyclone ever to strike Fiji, and the strongest in the Southern Hemisphere on record.
- — Typhoon York. battered Hong Kong in 1999 with the longest hurricane-signal in decades.
- — Hurricane Matthew. devastated Haiti's Tiburon peninsula in 2016 before striking the U.S. Southeast.
- — The 1900 Galveston hurricane. A hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, with a storm surge that killed an estimated 6,000-12,000 — still the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
- — Typhoon Hato. flooded Macau and Hong Kong in 2017, killing people trapped in basements and garages.
- — Hurricane Harvey. Harvey stalled over Houston and dropped over a metre of rain, causing catastrophic flooding across Texas.
- — Hurricane Irma. One of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever, Irma devastated Barbuda and the Caribbean before hitting Florida.
- — Hurricane Maria. Maria devastated Puerto Rico, knocking out power for months and causing an estimated 3,000 deaths in the storm and its long aftermath.
- — Hurricane Florence. Florence stalled over the Carolinas, dropping record rainfall and causing catastrophic inland flooding.
- — Typhoon Mangkhut. Super Typhoon Mangkhut struck the Philippines and then battered Hong Kong and Macau in 2018.
- — Hurricane Michael. A Category 5 hurricane obliterated Mexico Beach in the Florida Panhandle.
- — The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. A hurricane pushed Lake Okeechobee over its dike, drowning about 2,500, mostly Black farmworkers in Florida.
- — Cyclone Idai. devastated Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, flooding the city of Beira and killing over 1,300.
- — Cyclone Fani. struck Odisha, India, in 2019; a massive evacuation kept the death toll low.
- — Hurricane Hazel. raked the Carolinas and struck Toronto, Canada, with deadly inland flooding.
- — Hurricane Camille. One of only a handful of Category 5 hurricanes to strike the U.S., Camille devastated the Mississippi coast.
- — Hurricane Dorian. Dorian stalled over the Bahamas as a Category 5 for over a day, devastating Abaco and Grand Bahama.
- — The 1935 Labor Day hurricane. The most intense hurricane ever to hit the U.S. destroyed the Florida Keys, killing hundreds of war veterans.
- — Cyclone Amphan. devastated the Bengal delta and Kolkata in 2020, one of the costliest storms in the region.
- — Hurricane Laura. A powerful Category 4 hurricane struck southwestern Louisiana with a devastating surge.
- — Typhoon Goni. Super Typhoon Goni, one of the strongest landfalls ever recorded, struck the Philippines in 2020.
- — Cyclone Yasa. one of the strongest on record in the South Pacific, struck Fiji in 2020.
- — Hurricane Ida. struck Louisiana on Katrina's anniversary, then drowned basements as far as New York City.
- — Cyclone Batsirai. struck Madagascar in 2022, weeks after another storm had already flooded the island.
- — Hurricane Ian. A powerful Category 4 hurricane devastated southwest Florida with a catastrophic surge, killing over 150.
- — Hurricane Gloria. the 'storm of the century' hype of 1985, raked the U.S. Northeast.
- — Hurricane Nicole. collapsed beachfront homes into the sea along Florida's coast in 2022.
- — Cyclone Freddy. The longest-lived tropical cyclone on record crossed the entire Indian Ocean and devastated Malawi and Mozambique.
- — Cyclone Mocha. One of the strongest cyclones on record in the Bay of Bengal battered Myanmar and Bangladesh's Rohingya camps.
- — The 1937 Hong Kong typhoon. A typhoon drove a deadly surge into Hong Kong in 1937, killing some 11,000.
- — Hurricane Hilary. A rare tropical storm, Hilary, brought flooding rains to Southern California and the desert in 2023.
- — Hurricane Otis. Otis explosively intensified into a Category 5 and devastated Acapulco, Mexico, with almost no warning.
- — Hurricane Beryl. The earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record devastated the Windward Islands.
- — Cyclones of the smaller islands. Small island nations from the Caribbean to the Pacific are repeatedly devastated by cyclones far beyond their means to recover.
- — Typhoon Yagi. 2024's most powerful storm, devastated Vietnam, the Philippines and southern China.
- — Hurricane Helene. Helene's rains caused catastrophic flooding far inland in the Appalachians, devastating western North Carolina.
- — Hurricane Milton. Milton rapidly intensified and struck Florida weeks after Helene, spawning a deadly tornado outbreak.
- — Cyclone Chido. devastated the French island of Mayotte, flattening shantytowns in the archipelago's worst disaster in decades.
- — Cyclone Tracy. destroyed the Australian city of Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974, flattening most of its buildings.
- — Typhoon Tip. in 1979 remains the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.
- — Hurricane Iniki. devastated the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the strongest to hit Hawaii in recorded history.
- — Hurricane Floyd. caused catastrophic flooding across the U.S. East Coast and one of its largest evacuations.
- — Hurricane David. devastated the Dominican Republic and Dominica before striking the U.S. in 1979.
- — The 1932 Cuba hurricane. The deadliest hurricane in Cuban history drove a huge surge into Santa Cruz del Sur in 1932.
