Significant Floods of the 20th Century
[M, million; B, billion]
Flood Type Map no. Date Area or stream with flooding Reported deaths Approximate cost (uninflated) Comments
Regional flood 1 Mar.-Apr. 1913 Ohio, statewide 467 $143M Excessive regional rain.
2 Apr.-May 1927 Mississippi River from Missouri to Louisiana unknown $230M Record discharge downstream from Cairo, Illinois.
3 Mar. 1936 New England 150+ $300M Excessive rainfall on snow.
4 July 1951 Kansas and Neosho River Basins in Kansas 15 $800M Excessive regional rain.
5 Dec. 1964 - Jan. 1965 Pacific Northwest 47 $430M Excessive rainfall on snow.
Flash flood 21 June 14, 1903 Willow Creek in Oregon 225 unknown City of Heppner, Oregon, destroyed.
22 June 9-10, 1972 Rapid City, South Dakota 237 $160M 15 inches of rain in 5 hours.
23 July 31, 1976 Big Thompson and Cache la Poudre Rivers in Colorado 144 $39M Flash flood in canyon after excessive rainfall.
Ice-jam flood 25 May 1992 Yukon River Alaska 0 unknown 100-year flood on Yukon River.
Storm-surge flood 26 Sept. 1990 Galveston, Texas 6,000+ unknown Hurricane.
27 Sept. 1938 Northeast United States 494 $360M Hurricane.
Dam-failure flood 29 Feb. 2, 1972 Buffalo Creek in West Virginia 125 $60M Dam failure after excessive rainfall.
30 June 5, 1976 Teton River in Idaho 11 $400M Earthen dam breached.
Mudflow flood 32 May 18, 1980 Toutle and lower Cowlitz Rivers in Washington 60 unknown Result of eruption of Mt. St. Helens.