On August 17, 1876, at Fort Sully, Dakota, occurred one of the heaviest cloudbursts ever known. The water moved out of the canyon on the opposite side of the Missouri in a solid bank three feet deep and 200 feet wide. There are many other remarkable cloudbursts recorded doing great injury, drowning and killing many people.
WIND VELOCITY
Among the most remarkable wind velocity records is that of Cape Lookout on October 17, 1879, when the wind blew at a rate of 138 miles an hour.
One of the worst cyclones ever recorded in North America was the flood, as it is usually termed, at Galveston, Tex. This storm began on the 1st day of September, 1900, and lasted until the 12th. It reached its maximum destructive force on the 8th. Six thousand lives were lost and $30,000,000 worth of property was destroyed.
Even worse than any of these was the one at Calcutta in 1864, followed by a storm wave over 16 feet high, causing a death-rate of 45,000 persons.
BLIZZARDS
The blizzard in Dakota of 1873 is one of the worst on record, but probably the most disastrous in the United States occurred in Montana, Dakota, and Texas on January 11, 1888. The loss of life exceeded 100 persons.
TORNADOES
The United States is more liable to tornadoes than any other part of the globe. In the United States over 3,000 people have been killed by tornadoes and thousands more have been injured. The greatest loss of lives recorded by tornadoes was at Adams City, Miss., on June 16, 1842, when 500 lives were lost.
The most remarkable hail storm was that of July 13, 1788, through France to Belgium, and did a property damage of over five million dollars.