4. Nina- The Typhoon That Broke A Dam
Typhoon Nina caused over a billion dollars worth of damage in 1975. Worst yet, the typhoon claimed at least 229,000 lives, with most of the people being killed after a dam broke. Most of the casualties came in China, making Nina the deadliest storm to strike the Middle Kingdom in modern times. Numerous people and homes were also destroyed in Taiwan.
Interestingly, Typhoon Nina had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it reached mainland China. Damage at the initial point of impact was minimal, but the storm collided with a cold front and was held in place for two days. As a result, the storm inundated much of eastern China with heavy rains. In fact, the Chinese province of Henan was drenched with a year’s worth of rain over the course of just a few days.
The Banqiao Reservoir Dam, which is located in the Henan province, was overwhelmed and collapsed. Its collapse quickly flooded down stream cities and villages, and the massive influx of water caused the collapse of over 60 smaller downriver dams. Over 11 million people lost their homes, and over 200,000 died.
Officially, the Chinese government considers the disaster to be natural. According to the official narrative, it was only the freakishly heavy rain fall that caused the dam to collapse. However, numerous critics within and outside of China contend that shoddy construction doomed the Banqiao Dam. Well before the storm, cracks were appearing in the concrete and recommendations to add more sluice gates and other reinforcements were ignored.
The Banqiao dam has since been rebuilt with additional safety features and likely could withstand a similar storm, should one occur. Still, for the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives, and the millions who lost their homes, these reinforcements came far too late.
Up next, we’ll go over some honorable mentions.