1887 Yellow River flood

The 1887 Yellow River flood in Qing China began in September 1887, killed at least 930,000 people.^[1]^[2] It was the single deadliest , in turn making it one of the top disasters in China by death toll.

History[]

For centuries, the farmers living near the Yellow River had built dikes to contain the rivers, which over time flowed higher because, not allowed to flood, they had to deposit their silt on the riverbed. In 1887, this rising river, swollen by days of heavy rain, overcame the dikes on around 28 September, causing a massive flood. Since there is no international unit to measure a flood's strength it is usually classified by the extent of the damage done, depth of the water, and the number of casualties.

The waters of the Yellow River are generally thought to have broken through the dikes in Huayuankou, near the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province. Owing to the low-lying plains near the area, the flood spread very quickly throughout Northern China, covering an estimated 50,000 square miles (130,000 km²), swamping agricultural settlements and commercial centers. After the flood, two million were left homeless.^[2] The resulting pandemic and lack of basic essentials claimed as many lives as those lost directly to the flood. It was one of the worst floods in history, though the later 1931 Yangtze-Huai River flood may have killed as many as four million.^[3] The highest estimated death toll is 3,000,000.^[4]

References[]

^ 汤其成; 李秀云 (1995). "水圈中的自然灾害" [Natural disaster in the Hydrosphere]. In 王劲峰 (ed.). 中国自然灾害区划——灾害区划、影响评价、减灾对策. Beijing: 中国科学技术出版社. p. 41.
^ ^a ^b Encyclopedia of Disasters: Environmental Catastrophes and Human Tragedies, Angus M. Gunn, 2007, chapter 35: 'Yellow River China flood 1887', pp. 141–144 (this source quotes the figure of 900,500, and 2 million homeless, though some sources give other figures)
^ Trimble, Stanley Wayne (2007). Encyclopedia of Water Science. CRC Press. p. 383. ISBN 978-0-8493-9627-4.
^ "Top 10 Deadliest Natural Disasters". 7 September 2007.