Troubled Water Trivia Quiz

Sometimes known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake and Tsunami, this event began on the morning of November 1st, 1755 (All Saints' Day) with a slip along the Azores-Gibraltar fault line, under the Atlantic Ocean off Portugal's coast. Sources differ as to the number of fatalities from the initial 'quake (30000 is most common) but agree that the city was destroyed, by this and the waves of the tsunami.

These waves ranged from 6 metres (20 feet) to 20 metres (65 feet) in height, and caused an estimated 1000 more deaths.

The unlucky town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has suffered at least three major floods, the first of which happened on 31 May 1889, when a dam owned by a hunting and fishing club burst, flooding the town below and killing over 2000 of its citizens. Survivors blamed the club for not maintaining the dam properly, but were not successful in legal actions against the club.

The St Patrick's Day, 1936 flood at Johnstown was caused by heavy rain and melting snow. Heavy rain and broken dams were responsible for the July, 1977 event.

The Great Hurricane of 1900, also known as the Galveston Hurricane, raged between August 27 and September 15, 1900. On September 8 the storm surge, more gradual than a tsunami, but just as deadly, hit Galveston causing approximately 8000 deaths and widespread destruction.

The city was rebuilt over the next few years, including the construction of a sea wall to protect it from future storm surges.

Though it is known as The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, flooding in some areas began as early as December 1926. The three worst hit states were Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, when the Mississippi River overflowed and flooded more than 27000 square miles (70000 km sq.) of land along its banks, as a result of heavy rainfall the previous summer, and inadequate protection from levees.

The death toll was not as high as for some other disasters (about 500), but the monetary loss equated to about one third of the annual federal budget at the time.

The official dates for the storm remembered as Hurricane Hazel are October 5-18, 1954. Before reaching the Toronto area on October 15, Hazel had claimed over 450 lives in Haiti and at least 90 more in the US. The Canadian death toll of 81 included 35 residents of Raymore Drive, swept away inside their homes by the rapid rise of the river's waters.

The flooding of the market gardens of the Holland Marsh, north of Toronto, caused significant financial losses to the area.

The Great Chilean, or Valdivia, Earthquake of 22 May 1960 produced a tsunami which reached a height of at least 80 feet (25 metres) near the epicentre, and of 35 feet (11 m) by the time it reached Hawaii several hours later. Smaller waves continued on as far as Japan and the Philippines.

It is difficult to separate 'quake and tsunami casualty figures in Chile, particularly places like Puerto Montt and Valdivia. Farther afield, casualties attributed to the tsunami itself were at least 200.

In January 1974, Queensland had experienced heavy rainfall over an extended period of time and was feeling the effects of Cyclone Wanda. On 26 January, Australia Day, Brisbane received the equivalent of a month's rainfall in a single day and three days later the water level had peaked at nearly five and a half metres (nearly 18 feet). Fourteen people died in the city, and transportation and commercial enterprises were disrupted for days.

The image of a mother and her newborn daughter being winched to safety in a helicopter is not easily forgotten. The mother and other family members had taken refuge in the tree some days earlier, and the little girl was born there with her grandmother's help. Close to 800 people lost their lives in the floods that inundated large parts of the eastern African country in February and March 2000, after weeks of extremely heavy rainfall, and a visit from Tropical Cyclone Eline in late February.

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, and in 2004 it became a day remembered for the death and destruction caused by the tsunami, in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the region. One source records casualties as being 275000 in fourteen different countries.

The cause of the devastating tsunami was a very strong underwater earthquake off the coast of Sumatra. Casualties ranged from residents of fishing villages to foreign tourists enjoying a Christmas vacation.

Possibly the most well-known result of the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami is the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, when the waters of the tsunami flooded the generators and caused a loss of power. This led to meltdowns and significant radiation emission on a scale not seen since Chernobyl in 1986.

Of course, the power plant was not the only place affected in Japan, and there exists some rather amazing footage of water encroaching on the shore and moving inland at a good clip. At least 15000 people died in this event.