Flood Database - The Most Severe Floods

Last updated July 2014

Worst Floods, by Fatality Count

Number of Fatalities	Flood Event	Location	Year
2,500,000 – 3,700,000	China floods	China	1931
900,000 – 2,000,000	Yellow River flood	China	1887
500,000 – 700,000	Yellow River flood	China	1938
231,000	Banqiao Dam failure, Typhoon Nina	China	1975
145,000	Yangtze river flood	China	1935
100,000+	St. Felix's Flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1530
100,000	Hanoi and Red River Delta flood	North Vietnam	1971
as many as 100,000	Yangtze river flood	China	1911
50,000–80,000	St. Lucia's flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1287
60,000	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1212
40,000	Eastern Guatemala flood	Guatemala	1949
36,000	St. Marcellus flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1219
30,000	Yangtze river flood	China	1954
28,700	Bangladesh monsoon rain	Bangladesh	1974
25,000–40,000	St. Marcellus flood	Netherlands, Germany, Denmark	1362
20,006	Vargas mudslide	Venezuela	1999
20,000	All Saints' Flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1570
20,000	Tianjin flood	China	1939
14,000	Christmas flood.	Netherlands, Germany, Denmark	1717
10,000–100,000	St. Elizabeth flood.	Netherlands, Belgium	1421
8,000–15,000	Burchardi flood	Germany, Denmark	1634
10,000	Great Iran Flood	Iran	1954
10,000	St. Petersburg flood	Russia	1824
several thousand	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1014
several thousand	St. Juliana flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1164
several thousand	St. Agatha flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1288
several thousand	St. Clemens flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1334
several thousand	St. Mary Magdalene's flood	Central Europe	1342
several thousand	All Saints flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1532
several thousand	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1703
5,700	North India floods	India	2013
6,200	Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui flood	China	1980
5,000	Cojup valley, Cordillera Blanca mountain range, landslide	Peru	1941
5,000 – 10,000	Rajputana flood	India	1943
4,892	Rajasthan, Gujarat monsoon rain	India	1968
4,800	Manchuria flood	China	1951
3,838	Eastern India, Bangladesh monsoon rain	India, Bangladesh	1998
3,814	Sichuan flood	China	1989
3,800	Northern India monsoon rain	India	1978
3,656	Yangtze river flood	China	1998
3,500	Fuzhou flood	China	1948
3,084	South Asian monsoon rain	Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan	1993
3,076	Eastern India, Bangladesh monsoon rain	India, Bangladesh	2004
3,000	Afghanistan flood, mudslide	Afghanistan	1992
2,910	Pakistan flood	Pakistan	1950
1,828	Southeast Asian floods	Asia	2011
2,775	China flood, torrential floods, mud-rock flows	China	1996
2,566	Japan flood, mudslide	Japan	1953
2,400	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	838
2,400	Indian floods by monsoon rain	India	2008
2,379	Bangladesh monsoon rain	Bangladesh	1988
2,209	Johnstown Flood	United States (Pennsylvania)	1889
2,142	North Sea flood of 1953, storm surge	Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium	1953
2,075	1981 Sichuan, Shanxi Flood	China	1981
2,055	1987 Bangladesh monsoon rain	Bangladesh	1987
2,000–5,000	Morvi dam burst	India (Morvi, Gujarat)	1979
2,000–4,000	Huascaran, Ranrahirca landslide, avalanche	Peru	1962
2,000–3,000	Mostaganem and Oran flood	Algeria	1927
2,000+	Bristol Channel floods, 1607	England and Wales	1607
1,909	Vajont Dam landslide and flood	Italy	1963
1,834	1992 Pakistan, Northern India monsoon rain	Pakistan, India	1992
1,723	1991 China flood - torrential floods, mud/rock flows	China	1991
1,700	1955 Northern India flood	India	1955
1,624	Fujian, Anhui, Zhejiang flood	China	2005
1,605–3,363	Spring flooding	Haiti, Dominican Republic	2004
1,600–2,000	Pakistan floods, monsoon flooding	Pakistan	2010
1,558	St. Martin flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1686
1,532	2002 China flood, torrential floods, mud-rock flows	China	2002
1,503	Mumbai monsoon rain	India	2005
1,437	1995 China flood, torrential rain, devastating floods, mud-rock flows	China (Hunan, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Sichuan, Fujian)	1995
1,348	2007 China flood, mountain torrents, mud-rock flows	China	2007
1,268	Floods caused by Tropical Storm Washing	Philippines	2011
1,144	2006 Southern Leyte mudslide	Philippines	2006
1,072+	2010 China floods, landslides	China, North Korea	2010
1,029	2004 China flood, mountain torrents, mud-rock flows, landslide	China	2004
1,000	1961 Bihar flood	India	1961
992	Isahaya, massive rain and mudslide	Japan	1957
941	Inuyama Iruka	Japan	1868
933	1938 Massive rain and landslide of Japan	Japan (Tokyo, Kobe)	1938
915	Barcelona, flash flood	Spain	1962
894	January 2011 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides	Brazil	2011
848	1977 Karachi flood	Pakistan	1977
844	2006 North Korea flooding	North Korea	2006
827	Algiers, Bab El Oued, devastating flood, mudslide	Algeria	2001
800	North Sea flood, storm surge	Netherlands	1825
800	2000 Mozambique flood	Mozambique	2000
705	2006 Ethiopia flood, Omo River Delta, Dire Dawa, Tena, Gode, flash flood, heavy rain	Ethiopia	2006
702	1999 Vietnam flood, Thua Thien Hue	Vietnam	1999
677	2009 August 8 flood, due to Typhoon Morakot	Taiwan	2009
672	1972 Seoul, Kyonggi flood	South Korea	1972
653	1972 Luzon flood	Philippines	1972
640	1987 Villatina landslide disaster	Colombia	1987
610	2007 North Korea flooding	North Korea	2007
540	1969 Tunisia flooding	Tunisia	1969
532	Cuzco, Huallaga, torrential rain, flooding, landslide	Peru	1982
517	1967 Japan - massive rain and landslide	Japan	1967
506	KwaZulu-Natal	South Africa	1987
500	Malawi, flash flood and landslide	Malawi	1991
500	Gauldal, landslide	Norway	1345
464	Lisbon flash flood	Portugal	1967
445	Western Japan, massive rains and landslides	Japan	1972
437	1967 Brazil flood, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, flood and landslide	Brazil	1967
429	2002 Nepal flood, occurred at Makwanpur, rain, flood, landslide	Nepal	2002
425	October 1999 Mexico floods and mudslide as a result from Tropical Depression Eleven	Mexico	1999
421	Malpasset Dam failure	France	1959
420	St. Aarons Flood	Amsterdam	1420
408	1969 South Korea flood. Torrential rain, landslide	South Korea	1969
407	1993 Iran flood, at Isfahan, Bandar Abass, flash flood and landslide	Iran	1993
405	1998 South Korea flood, heavy massive rain, landslide	South Korea	1998
400	1955 Lebanon Tripoli flood	Lebanon	1955
400	St. Francis Dam failure	United States (Texas)	1928
386	Thailand, Malaysia, at Nakhon, Songkhla, Kelantan, torrential rain	Thailand, Malaysia,	1988
385	Ohio River flood of 1937	United States (Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois)	1937
373	1966 Rio de Janeiro flood and landslide	Brazil	1966
364	Piura, Tumbes, torrential rain, flooding, landslide	Peru	1983
360+	Great Dayton Flood	United States	1913
360	1958 Buenos Aires flood	Argentina	1958
353	2007 African Nations flood	including Sudan, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya	2007
347	1996 Yemen flood	Yemen	1996
345	1987 South Korea flood, at Chungchongnam-do, Jeollanam-do, Kangwon, torrential rain, landslide	South Korea	1987
342	2006 East African Flood	Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia	2006
315	North Sea flood of 1962 storm tide	Germany	1962
313	2003 Sumatra flood at Jambi, Batanghari, Tondano, torrential rain, flash flood, landslide	Indonesia	2003
300–400	Flood in Miskolc, 1878	Hungary	1878
300	Quebrada Blanca canyon, landslide	Colombia	1974
300	Pampayacta avalanche	Peru	1963
299	Nagasaki, massive rain and landslide	Japan	1982
290	Rio de Janeiro and Fluminense flood	Brazil	1988
272	1973 Granada, Almeria, Murcia flood	Spain	1973
270	Great Sheffield flood dam disaster	United Kingdom	1864
268	Val di Stava dam disaster	Italy	1985
261	Gormec, avalanche	Turkey	1992
259	1966 Maian flood	Jordan	1966
255	1998 Tajikistan flood	Tajikistan	1998
250	Josefina dam failure	Ecuador	1993
246+	April 2010 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2010
246	Great Mississippi Flood of 1927	United States	1927
238	Black Hills flood	United States	1972
235–244	2009 Philippine Floods	Philippines	2009
230	Marrakesh flash flood	Morocco	1995
228	2007 Balochistan flood by Cyclone Yemyin	Pakistan	2007
223	2012 North Korean floods	North Korea	2012
200–600	Chungar landslide, flood, avalanche	Peru	1971
200+	2008 South China floods	South China	2008
200	Pamir Mountain area, mud and rock slides, torrential rain	Tajikistan	1992
199	Santa Catarina, Tubarão, torrential heavy rain	Brazil	1974
199	2009 El Salvador floods and mudslides	El Salvador	2009
190	Huigra landslide	Ecuador	1931
172+	2010 Salang avalanches	Salang tunnel, Afghanistan	2010
172	1970 Recife and Pernambuco flood	Brazil	1970
172	2012 Russian floods	Krymsk	2012
165	2004 Brazil flood at São Paulo, Pemambuco, torrential rain, mudslide	Brazil	2004
159	Sarno flood and landslide	Italy	1998
154	KwaZulu-Natal	South Africa	1995
144	Aberfan disaster	Wales	1966
141+	2010–2011 Southern Africa floods	Africa	2011
138	2010 Colombia floods	Colombia	2010
135	Ozengeli, avalanche	Turkey	1993
128	Izumo, massive rain and mudslide	Japan	1964
125+	2010 Leh floods	Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan/India	2010
123	2009 Jeddah Torrential rain, floods	Saudi Arabia	2009
120	1991 Antofagasta Flood	Chile	1991
119	2007 Central and East Java torrential monsson rain, landslide, flood	Indonesia	2007
117	Masuda, massive rain and landslide	Japan	1983
116	Verdal, landslide	Norway	1893
115	Los Angeles Flood of 1938	United States	1938
114	Seoul, Inchon, heavy rain	South Korea	1990
110	Southern Federal District, heavy rain, landslide	Russia	2002
104	1981 Laingsburg flood	South Africa	1981
98	Flood of the millennium	Poland, Czech Republic	1997
94	The Mameyes disaster	Puerto Rico	1985
90+	Columbus, Ohio flood	United States	1913
85+	January 2010 Rio de Janeiro floods and mudslides	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2010
81+	Valencia flood	Valencia, Spain	1957
81	Holmfirth Flood—Bilberry Reservoir dam failure	United Kingdom	1852
80+	2014 Southeast Europe floods	Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia	2014
80	Failure of Laurel Run Dam and flash flooding, Johnstown, Pennsylvania	United States	1977
78	Austin Dam failure	United States	1911
75+	2013 Argentina floods	Greater La Plata, Argentina	2013
73	Kagoshima, mudslide and debris flow	Japan	1993
72+	Nigeria floods	Nigeria	2012
72	Gudbrandsdalen flood and landslides	Norway	1789
70	2005 levee failures in New Orleans	United States	2005
51+	2010 northeastern Brazil floods	Alagoas and Pernambuco, Brazil	2010

Largest Floods, by Water Flow Rate

Region	Year	Country	Cause	Peak Discharge Rate, cubic meters/second
Amazon	1953	Brazil	Rainfall	370,000
Lena	1967	Russia	Snowmelt, Ice Jam	189,000
Yangtze	1870	China	Rainfall	110,000
Orinoco	1905	Venezuela	Rainfall	98,120
Brahmaputra	1974	Bangladesh	Rain, Snowmelt	81,000
Congo	1961	Zaire	Rainfall	76,900
Ganges	1973	Bangladesh	Rain, Snowmelt	74,060
Mississippi	1927	USA	Rainfall	70,000
Mekong	1939	Vietnam	Rainfall	66,700
Yenisey	1937	Russia	Snowmelt	57,400
Volga	1926	Russia	Snowmelt	51,900
Ob-Irtysh	1979	Russia	Snowmelt	44,800
Parana	1905	Argentina	Rainfall	43,070
Amur	1959	Russia	Rainfall	38,900
Tocantins	1974	Brazil	Rainfall	38,780
Huanghe	1905	China	Rainfall	36,000
Columbia	1894	USA	Snowmelt	35,100
Indus	1976	Pakistan	Rain, Snowmelt	33,280
Mackenzie	1975	Canada	Snowmelt	30,300
Yukon	1991	USA	Snowmelt	30,300
Niger	1970	Niger	Rainfall	27140
Dnieper	1931	Ukraine	Snowmelt	23,100
Rio Grande	1865	USA	Rain, Snowmelt	17,850
Zambezi	1905	Mozambique	Rainfall	17,000
Orange	1843	South Africa	Rainfall	16,230
Danube	1895	Romania	Snowmelt	15,900
São Francisco	1960	Brazil	Rainfall	15,890
St. Lawrence	1943	Canada	Snowmelt	14,870
Nile	1878	Egypt	Rainfall	13,200
Senegal	1906	Senegal	Rainfall	9,340
Shatt al Arab	1969	Iraq	Rain, Snowmelt	7,366
Colorado	1916	USA	Rainfall	7,080
Amu Darya	1958	Kazakhstan	Rain, Snowmelt	6,900
Chari	1961	Chad	Rainfall	5,160
Murray	1956	Australia	Rainfall	3,940
Darling	1890	Australia	Rainfall	2,840
Syr Darya	1934	Kazakhstan	Rain, Snowmelt	2,730

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