List of disasters in the United States by death toll

Appearance

This list of United States disasters by death toll includes disasters that occurred either in the United States, at diplomatic missions of the United States, or incidents outside of the United States in which a number of U.S. citizens were killed.

- Domestic deaths due to war in America are included except the American Civil War. For stats on this and U.S. military deaths in foreign locations, see United States military casualties of war and list of battles with most United States military fatalities.

- Due to inflation, the monetary damage estimates are not comparable. Unless otherwise noted, the year given is the year in which the currency's valuation was calculated.

- List of missing ships

- List of boiler explosions

- List of Indian massacres in North America

- List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States

- List of battles with most United States military fatalities

- List of hotel fires in the United States

- List of the deadliest firefighter disasters in the United States

- Freedmen massacres

- List of notable disease outbreaks in the United States

- List of disasters in New York City by death toll

- List of disasters in Massachusetts by death toll

- List of disasters in New Hampshire by death toll

- List of disasters in Canada by death toll

- List of disasters in Germany by death toll

- List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll

- List of disasters in Australia by death toll

- List of disasters in New Zealand by death toll

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- "Leopoldville". Uboat.net. Retrieved December 7, 2010.

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- Brown, David (1995). Warship Losses of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-55750-914-7.

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- "Horrible Accident, the Result of Hellish Avarice". Public Ledger. November 11, 1837. p. 2. Retrieved June 28, 2023.

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- "Wreck of the Mexico (1837) Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

- Downes, Bridget (November 8, 2018). "City unveils Wreck of Mexico landmark". Long Island Herald. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

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- Lloyd, James T. (1856). Lloyd's steamboat directory, and disasters on the western waters. Cincinnati, O.: J.T. Lloyd & Co. pp. 189–194 – via HathiTrust.

- Debusmann, Bernd (January 22, 2024). "More than 90 dead after fierce US winter storms". BBC News. Retrieved January 22, 2024.

- Indiana Plane Crashes Archived 2013-06-27 at the Wayback Machine

- Secrest, William B. Jr.; Seacrest, William B. Sr. (2006). "1864: Explosion of the Washoe". California Disasters, 1812-1899: Firsthand Accounts of Fires, Shipwrecks, Floods, Epidemics, Earthquakes and Other California Tragedies. Quill Driver Books. pp. 106–109. ISBN 978-1-884995-49-1.

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- Bogardus, Carl (1991). Collision of the United States and America: Rendezvous with Destiny. Warsaw Kentucky USA: The Gallatin County Historical Society. pp. 2–30.

- "Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action". NHHC. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

- "Los Angeles Riots ‑ 1992, Cause & Rodney King". HISTORY. April 20, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2024.

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- "Hurricane Michael upgraded to a Category 5 at time of U.S. landfall | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration". www.noaa.gov. April 19, 2019.

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- "The Yosemite Disaster & Ghouls". Martinez News-Gazette. October 21, 1865. p. 2. Retrieved December 22, 2023.

- Roberts, Jeannie. "Survivor recalls 1965 Titan II missile silo fire that killed 53". Daily Record. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

- The Brown’s Island Explosion in Richmond and its Victims https://www.civilwarmed.org/browns-island-explosion/ accessed 2026-07-13

- "San Francisco Call 10 July 1892 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.

- "Memphis Riots and Massacres: Official Report". The Daily Memphis Avalanche. December 5, 1866. p. 1. Retrieved June 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

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- "45 Lives Lost after SS Mohawk Collision with SS Talisman off Sea Girt". Monmouth Timeline. Retrieved August 16, 2025.

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- F. C. Pate (United States Weather Bureau) (October 1946). "The Tornado at Montgomery, Alabama, February 12, 1945". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 27 (8). American Meteorological Society: 462–464. JSTOR 26257954. Retrieved May 27, 2023.

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- "On this date in 1977: 42 people died in Maury County Jail fire". The Tennessean. 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

- "Fire at the Insane Asylum". dover.nh.gov. Dover Public Library. Retrieved September 24, 2025. The insane asylum was burned to ashes, and forty-one of the forty-four inmates were cremated

- "Bodies Taken From Ruins". The Boston Globe. February 11, 1893. p. 1. Retrieved September 25, 2025 – via newspapers.com.

- Sharp, Angie (January 7, 2015). "65 Years Later…Remembering The Tragedy At St. Elizabeth's". WQAD Channel 8. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

- "Another, and more distressing". American Railroad Journal, and Advocate of Internal Improvements. Vol. II, no. 46. Wall Street, New York City: D.K. Minor. November 16, 1833. p. 721.

- "Decision Hits Long Beach". The Los Angeles Times. December 2, 1913. p. 13. Retrieved June 1, 2024.

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- "Firebrand". Naval Historical Heritage Command. Retrieved March 19, 2025.

- "Watts Rebellion ‑ Riots, Summary & 1965". HISTORY. June 24, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2025.

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- "Two Steamboats Burnt—Thirty or Forty Lives Lost". The United States Gazette. November 20, 1833. p. 1. Retrieved February 2, 2025.

- Danielle, Monica (April 3, 2025). "LA wildfire death toll rises to 30 after human remains discovered in Aldadena ruins". AccuWeather. Retrieved April 3, 2025.

- "Wayland, NY Passenger Train Collision, Aug 1943". GenDisasters. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.

- "Memories of UE plane crash still linger". ECP.

- Lawrence Messina (April 5, 2010). "West Virginia Coal Mine Explosion: 25 Dead After Massey Blast". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved April 22, 2013.

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- "Burning of the Steamer South America on the Mississippi". Public Ledger. December 28, 1850. p. 1. Retrieved February 2, 2025.

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