Salvador and Western Honduras – June 8, 1934: Many ships sink, massive downpour of rain, rivers overrun their banks by 45 feet, thousands drown.
Extreme drought in Nevada – summer, 1934: Worst drought in state history devastates livestock industry, Lake Tahoe at its all-time lowest, Lake Washoe completely dries up.
Typhoon hits Osaka, Japan – Sept. 21, 1934: 125 mile per hour winds devastate Osaka, more than 80 schools are demolished killing 420 children and injuring 1000. 200 patients at a Leper hospital are swept away in the wind, 3,082 factories are destroyed, and over 4,000 residents die in the storm.
Extreme hurricane devastates Florida Keys – Sept. 2, 1935: Many villages wiped out by 250 mph winds and 20 to 30 foot waves. Hundreds killed. Barometer plunges to 26.35, the lowest ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Witnesses say the air was thick with flying debris and dead bodies. Hundreds of WWI veterans in a road-building camp are literally blown away by the wind.
Hurricanes, West Indies – 1935: 4 massive hurricanes devastate the West Indies. One of these hurricanes, on October 22, kills more than 2,000 people in Haiti alone.
Major drought followed by famine, West China – 1936: Five million people die
North American cold wave – Jan.-Feb. 1936: Intense, record breaking cold paralyzes Midwest, affects all of North America.
Worst heat wave on record in North America – Late June – early Sept, 1936: Record breaking cold wave is followed by extreme heat wave. North Dakota reaches 121°, Ontario and Manitoba set still-standing records of 110°. Heat records are set in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, W. Virginia, and New Jersey. 5000 heat related deaths.
“The Great New England Hurricane” – Sept. 17-21, 1938: Gigantic storm with 186 mph winds causes enormous damage to Long Island, New York and southern New England. Almost 600 killed or missing, nearly 14,000 buildings destroyed, more than 2,500 boats sunk. Almost one- half billion dollars in damages. 60,000 left homeless. This was the ninth major hurricane to have struck New England since record keeping began.
Tornados, Charleston, South Carolina – Sept. 29, 1938: From 6:45 A.M. to 8:30 A.M, five tornados at once descend on Charleston and surrounding area, causing widespread damage and causing extensive casualties and injuries.
Great Floods and famine, China – Sept.- Nov. 1939: A series of giant floods inundate northern provinces destroying grain and rice crops. 25 million rendered destitute, large swaths of land under 10 feet of water. Subsequent famine kills 200,000 over the next 3 months.
Giant Cyclone over Michigan and northern plains – Nov. 11-12, 1940: Furious cyclonic storm sinks 69 ships in Lake Michigan, kills 73 in the state of Michigan.
Cyclone hits Bengal, India – Oct. 16, 1942: Powerful cyclone with 150 mph winds devastates the province of Bengal. 40,000 are killed when the storm hits Calcutta. Many villages completely flattened.
Violent typhoon, Philippines – Dec. 17-18, 1944: 150 mph winds ravage the Philippines, catching the American Third Fleet with 100 foot waves, sending three destroyers to the bottom, drowning 790 sailors and damaging all 28 surviving ships.
Eleven powerful hurricanes strike Florida between 1944 and 1950.
Massive flood on Columbia River – May-June, 1948: Aggravated by three days of intense rainfall , below normal temperatures delay snow-melt in nearby mountain ranges, resulting in a flood in excess of one million cfs in Columbia Valley. Flood erases the city of Vanport Oregon, causing 19,000 to flee with only the clothes on their backs.
Hurricanes – 1951: 12 large hurricanes in the season, the worst being Charlie on Aug. 17. 125 mph winds destroy every wooden structure on the island of Jamaica and break apart dozens of ships, damage is so widespread that recovery takes five years.
Hurricane winds, dike failure, destructive floods, Netherlands – Feb. 1, 1953: 100 mph winds breach 50 dikes, flooding a half-million acres, drowning 1,835 people and a half-mi