Timeline of Homeland Security Events and Milestones

May 11, 2023:  On March 13, 2020, the U.S. federal government declared COVID-19 a national emergency. This declaration enabled several policy changes including mandated COVID-19 data collection, establishing various public assistance programs, and enacting Title 42. Public law 118-3, approved on April 10, 2023, terminated the national emergency declaration (GPO)...More about the event

January 12, 2023-  According to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, preliminary data shows that 517 tornadoes have occurred in the United States through April 2023. Tornadoes with ratings from EFU (Enhanced Fujita Scale Unknown) to EF-4 have affected 20 states, including the rare touchdown of an EF-1 tornado in a city..More about the event

December 23-26, 2022: Dangerous winter weather conditions swept over the majority of the Central and Eastern U.S., bringing the coldest recorded Christmas in decades to major cities. By December 25, more than 55 million were under wind chill alerts. The storm was responsible for extensive vehicle pileups, and more than..More about the event

September 27, 2022:   The National Hurricane Center (NHC) started tracking a tropical wave east of the Windward Islands on September 19, 2022. On September 24, 2022, President Biden issued an emergency declaration for Florida.  The wave gained strength and turned into Tropical Storm Ian, eventually hitting Cuba on September..More about the event

May 24, 2022: At roughly 11:00 am CDT in Uvalde, Texas, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos shot his grandmother in their home before driving to Robb Elementary School, crashing a truck in a nearby ditch at 11:28 am. He entered the school through an unlocked side door, carrying with him an assault..More about the event

May 12, 2022:  From American Hospital Association: “As U.S. COVID-19 deaths today surpassed 1 million, the AHA, American Medical Association, and American Nurses Association continued to urge everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible. Today we mark an incredibly grim and somber milestone as..More about the event

December 13, 2021:  From NBC News:  “The United States passed another grim Covid-19 milestone Monday, as more than 800,000 Americans have now died from the virus that’s plagued the country for nearly two years. There have been at least 800,156 confirmed deaths traced to the coronavirus, according to a rolling..More about the event

September 11, 2021 On September 11, 2001, members of al-Qaeda hijacked and flew passenger airplanes into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York City; the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia; and into a field in Somerset, Pennsylvania, not reaching its destination target in Washington, DC, killing nearly 3,000..More about the event

June 14, 2021: From Reuters: “The United States on Monday crossed the grim milestone of 600,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, as slowing vaccination rates threaten the Biden administration target of having 70% of U.S. adults receive at least one shot and 160 million fully inoculated by July..More about the event

May 20-December 23, 2021: Nationally, a total of 58,733 wildfires in the U.S. consumed 7,125,643 acres and destroyed 5, 972 structures. These numbers are similar to five and 10-year averages, however certain geographic areas including Northern California, Northwest and Eastern areas, and the Northern Rockies experienced abnormally high levels of..More about the event

March 16, 2021: On the evening of March 16, 2021, a man opened fire in three separate spas in Atlanta, Georgia, killing eight people–six of whom were Asian women. This event coincided with an uptick of anti-Asian sentiments in the United States over the COVID-19 pandemic, however, there have been..More about the event

February 15, 2021: In mid-February 2021, three major winter storms struck—Feb. 10-11, Feb. 13-17, and Feb. 15-20—across the United States, Northern Mexico, and parts of Canada, causing blackouts for over 9.9 million people in the U.S. and Mexico, but notably impacting the state of Texas, where over 4.5 million households..More about the event

February 4, 2022:  From AP News:   “Propelled in part by the wildly contagious omicron variant, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000. The two-year total, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Indianapolis, San Francisco,..More about the event

January 6, 2021: What began as a demonstration against the recent presidential election results turned into a violent attack at the Capitol building, with hundreds of supporters of President Trump breaching security and occupying the federal building for hours. Weeks of unsupported claims of election fraud and attempts to overturn..More about the event

December 14, 2020: From AP News: The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 300,000 Monday just as the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots in a monumental campaign to conquer the outbreak. The number of dead rivals the population of St. Louis or Pittsburgh. It is equivalent to repeating a tragedy on..More about the event

September 22, 2020: From Modern Healthcare: It is completely unfathomable that we’ve reached this point,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins University public health researcher. The bleak milestone, by far the highest confirmed death toll from the virus in the world, was reported by Johns Hopkins, based on figures supplied..More about the event

May 28, 2020: Statement from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: “Today the number of people in the United States who have died from COVID-19 surpassed 100,000. Families, friends, coworkers, loved ones and community members are grieving for each person who has been lost to this disease. Reaching the..More about the event

May 16, 2020-November 18, 2020: The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season was the most active season on record with 31 tropical/subtropical storms, all but one becoming a named storm, and 13 of which became hurricanes.  This is the first time that the Greek names Eta, Theta, and Iota have been used..More about the event

February 26, 2020: At the  Molson Coors complex in Milwaukee,  51-year-old employee, Anthony Ferrill, opened fire on coworkers at around 2:00pm.  According to authorities, Ferrill  was armed with two handguns, one with a silencer (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). As of March 4, 2020 police have not provided a motive for the..More about the event

January 10, 2020-April 23, 2020: Early January saw the start of a destructive and deadly tornado season for the United States. Over 1,000 tornadoes resulted in >$4.4 billion in damages and at least 78 fatalities. (NOAA) Many of the big storms spawned numerous cyclones, and these tornado outbreaks can span..More about the event

December 28, 2019-Present: Since December 28, 2019, Puerto Rico has suffered an ongoing series of over 9,400 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 1.5-6.4. Initial damage estimates in January 2020 were >$3.1 billion and Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced declared a state of emergency on January 7, 2020. (Disaster Philanthropy) Thousands of..More about the event

December 10, 2019: At a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, NJ, two assailants opened fire, killing three people inside the market and wounding two officers in a shootout that lasted over an hour. Prior to arriving at the store, the assailants shot and killed a Jersey City police detective..More about the event

August 4, 2019: Early on the morning of August 4, 2019 at approximately 1:09 am, a gunman opened fire on the popular nightlife Organ District in downtown Dayton, Ohio. The gunman, Connor Betts, was reported to be wearing body armor and carrying high-capacity magazines as he shot into the crowd...More about the event

May 31, 2019: At a municipal center in Virginia Beach, VA, a disgruntled employee opened fire indiscriminately on all three floors of the operations building, carrying “two handguns and plenty of ammunition” in extended magazines, purchased legally (NYT).  The shooting was reported at 4:08 p.m., on the same day he..More about the event

February 15, 2019: Not long after 13:00, Gary Montez Martin, a disgruntled former-employee of manufacturing company Henry Pratt, “opened fire during a meeting to terminate his employment at the company, authorities have said” (Chicago Tribune). The first emergency call was received at 13:24, and by 13:30, officers were moving into..More about the event

November 7, 2018: At the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, CA, at approximately 11:20 pm,  a gunman opened fire in the building packed with hundreds of patrons. He first shot the unarmed security guard outside, and then went in and continued shooting, injuring other security workers, employees, and patrons...More about the event

October 22-29, 2018: Beginning on October 22, 2018, 15 packages containing improvised explosive devices were received at multiple locations in New York, Washington, D.C., Florida, Delaware, California, and Georgia. Packages were delivered to prominent critics of President Trump including: Billionaire investor George Soros; Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Former..More about the event

September 14, 2018: At 16:00 UTC on September 10, Florence again became a Category 4 hurricane, later reaching a new peak intensity with 1-minute winds of 140 mph. It lessened to a Category 1 by the time it made landfall on September 14, 2018, but a high-pressure ridge slowed Florence’s forward motion for several..More about the event

On February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 19 year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on staff and students. Prior to the incident, the FBI had received a tip learning of Cruz’s intentions on the FBI’s Public Access Line, but an error kept the information from..More about the event

November 5, 2017: “At the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, […] 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley of nearby New Braunfels, killed 26 and injured 20 others. He was shot twice by a male civilian as he exited the church. Fleeing in his SUV, Kelley crashed after a high-speed chase and was..More about the event

October 8, 2017: A fast-growing fire broke out near Tubbs Lane in Calistoga, CA. Pushed by strong wind, the fire spread about 12 miles in just over three hours. The Tubbs fire was one of more than a dozen wildfires that had broken out in October in Northern California. The..More about the event

September 19, 2017: As category 4 hurricane, Maria “made landfall in southeast Puerto Rico after striking the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix. Maria’s high winds caused widespread devastation to Puerto Rico’s transportation, agriculture, communication and energy infrastructure. Extreme rainfall up to 37 inches caused widespread flooding and mudslides across..More about the event

September 2, 2017: Following a magnitude 5.3 earthquake east of Soda Springs, Idaho was a sustained and highly active sequence of aftershocks that were not typically present after earthquakes of this size. The earthquake was due to normal faulting found in the Intermountain Seismic Belt.—(USGS) Impact: No fatalities reported. Related..More about the event

On August 12 a planned Unite the Right rally was scheduled to take place in Charlottesville, VA. On August 11, before the rally, hundreds of White nationalists, White supremacists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazi demonstrators marched and violently engaged with counter-protesters at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. On August 12, the..More about the event

November 28, 2016: A car driven by Abdul Razak Ali Artan raced onto a sidewalk and struck multiple people near the corner of West 19th Avenue and College Road. Investigators say Artan also attacked pedestrians with a knife before Ohio State University Police Officer Alan Horujko shot him. — The Ohio..More about the event

September 17, 2016: 10 people were injured in a stabbing attack at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud Minnesota. The attacker, Dahir Adan, was fatally shot by an armed off-duty police officer on the scene. Related Resources: Fear Thy Neighbor: Radicalization and Jihadist Attacks in the West Ideological Radicalization: A..More about the event

June 12, 2016: “Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, 29, armed with a rifle and a handgun, began shooting patrons inside Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Law enforcement officers entered the nightclub and engaged the shooter. The shooter then barricaded himself inside a bathroom with hostages for approximately three hours. Forty-nine people were killed; 53 were..More about the event

December 18, 2015: “Despite many recommendations made over the past decade, most major legislative provisions relating to cybersecurity had been enacted prior to 2002. However, on December 18, 2014, five cybersecurity bills were signed by the President. These bills changed federal cybersecurity programs in a number of ways.” — Congressional Research..More about the event

November 27, 2015: Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. opened fire at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 3 and injuring 9. Related Resources: Understanding Lone-actor Terrorism: A Comparative Analysis with Violent Hate Crimes and Group-based Terrorism, Report to the Resilient Systems Division, Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of..More about the event

July 23, 2015: John Russell Houser entered the Grand 16 Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana and opened fired on an audience viewing a screening of “Trainwreck”, killing two people and injuring nine before killing himself. Upon investigation it was found that he had a history of mental health problems, but legally..More about the event

July 9, 2015: The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases. This includes 19.7 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 1.8 million non-applicants,..More about the event

June-November 2015: “Wildfires burned over 10.1 million acres across the U.S. in 2015, surpassing 2006 for the highest annual total of U.S. acreage burned since record-keeping began in 1960. The most costly wildfires occurred in California where over 2,500 structures were destroyed due to the Valley and Butte wildfires with..More about the event

April 2, 2014: “Ivan Antonio Lopez-Lopez, 34, armed with a handgun, began shooting inside an administrative office on the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas. The active-duty soldier then moved (sometimes on foot, other times in a vehicle) from one location to another, firing inside and outside buildings. Three soldiers were killed;..More about the event

May 23, 2014: “Elliot Rodger, 22, armed with a handgun and several knives, began shooting in the first of 17 locations in Isla Vista, California. After stabbing 3 inside his apartment earlier that day, the shooter began driving through town, shooting from his car. He killed 3 and wounded 7 and struck and..More about the event

March 22, 2014: “A large landslide occurred in northwest Washington[…], leading to tragic loss of life and destruction of property. Landslide debris covered about 40 homes and other structures as well as nearly a mile of State Route 530. It also caused 43 fatalities in the community of Steelhead Haven..More about the event

October 22, 2013: “Superstorm Sandy” formed off a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea. It would end up killing 233 people over the span of eight countries, with 159 deaths in the U.S. alone (See: Hurricane Sandy mortality in the Caribbean and continental North America ). “Sandy’s impact on major population centers..More about the event

April 17, 2013: “A fire and explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company (WFC), a fertilizer blending, retail, and distribution facility in West, Texas. The violent detonation fatally injured 12 emergency responders and three members of the public. Local hospitals treated more than 260 injured victims, many of whom required..More about the event

February 3-12, 2013: “The greater Los Angeles area faced an unprecedented nine-day manhunt in February 2013 for a particularly dangerous multiple-murder suspect named Christopher Dorner. A highly armed former LAPD officer who began his rampage by allegedly murdering a couple in the city of Irvine on February 3, Dorner explicitly vowed to continue..More about the event

December 14, 2012: In the space of several minutes, Adam Lanza, armed with two handguns and a rifle, killed 20 elementary school children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The shooter then committed suicide as police arrived. Prior to the school shooting, Lanza killed his..More about the event

August 5, 2012: “Wade Michael Page, 40, armed with a handgun, began shooting outside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and then moved inside and continued to shoot. The shooter exited the building and confronted the responding police officer, wounding him. He then fired on a second responding..More about the event

January-December 2012: The 2012 drought is the most extensive drought to affect the U.S. since the 1930s. Moderate to extreme drought conditions affected more than half the country for a majority of 2012. The following states were affected: CA, NV, ID, MT, WY, UT, CO, AZ, NM, TX, ND, SD,..More about the event

May 22, 2011: An outbreak of an estimated 180 tornadoes struck the central and southern United States over several days in May 2011. On May 22nd, an EF-5 tornado devastated the city of Joplin, Mo., leaving an estimated 157 people dead. The Joplin tornado is the deadliest single tornado since..More about the event

April 25-28, 2011: Over the course of four days, an outbreak of 362 confirmed tornadoes occurred over the central and southern states, surpassing the previous record for all of April by nearly 100, but also accounting for almost half of the confirmed tornadoes during the month. (On This Day: 2011 Tornado..More about the event

September 9, 2010: A PG&E pipeline ruptured and exploded in the Crestmoor residential neighborhood of San Bruno, CA. Investigation into the incident found that PG&E had been in violation of regulations and laws regarding the type of piping used for the line.  A 30-inch-diameter segment of the natural gas pipeline..More about the event

April 20, 2010: The oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank. In 87 days following the explosion, approximately 210,000,000 gallons of oil were spilled around 68,000 square miles of the Gulf before finally..More about the event

February 18, 2010: “Andrew Joseph Stack deliberately flew his small single engine aircraft into the Echelon I office building located at 9420 Research Blvd., Austin, Texas. Prior to that, he had set fire to his own residence located approximately two miles from the Echelon I building, drove 15 miles to..More about the event

April 3, 2009: 14 people were killed and 4 people were injured, at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. “On the morning of April 3, 2009, at approximately 10:30 a.m. EDT,..More about the event

October 2008: The DoD detected an intrusion into it’s classified networks. The following information about the attack is excerpted from the October 1, 2010 article from DoD News, “Lynn: Cyberwarfare Extends Scope of Conflict”: Information technology, and the world’s reliance on it, has redefined the front lines of national security, Deputy Defense..More about the event

August 3, 2007: Public Law 110-53: Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 is signed into law. The “9/11 Commission Act” addresses a wide range of the Department’s missions, including cargo security, critical infrastructure protection, grant administration, intelligence and information sharing, privacy, and transportation security. — Dept. of Homeland..More about the event

June-August 2007: “Continued drought conditions and high winds over much of the western U.S. (AK, AZ, CA, ID, UT, MT, NV, OR, WA) resulting in numerous wildfires; with national acreage burned exceeding 8.9 million acres (mainly in the west) and over 3,000 homes and structures destroyed in southern California alone.” — NOAA: Billion-Dollar..More about the event

October 13, 2006: Public Law 109-347: Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 is signed. Many of the SAFE Port Act’s provisions relate to programs designed to secure the United States’ sea ports and shipping lanes. Related Resources: HSDL Search Results for “SAFE Port Act” HSDL In Focus: Maritime Domain

July 11, 2006: Public Law 109-241: Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 addresses U.S. Coast Guard issues, shipping and navigation, hurricane response, and a number of other issues.

December 17, 2004: Public Law 108-458: Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created a Director of National Intelligence to coordinate the work of 15 federal intelligence agencies and established a National Counter Terrorism Center to analyze intelligence information – ‘connecting the dots’ so the government could take effective..More about the event

February 14, 2003: The George W. Bush White House released the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace as part of an overall effort to protect the Nation and to “to engage and empower Americans to secure the portions of cyberspace that they own, operate, control, or with which they interact.” Related Resources: HSDL..More about the event

November 25, 2002: Public Law 107-296: The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established the Department of Homeland Security and set forth the primary mission of the Department. “Eleven days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge was appointed as the first Director of the Office of..More about the event

  November 19, 2001: President Bush signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act into law requiring screening conducted by federal officials, 100 percent checked baggage screening, expansion of the Federal Air Marshal Service and reinforced cockpit doors. TSA is created to oversee security in all modes of transportation. — TSA Impact: Creation..More about the event

September 18, 2001: “Soon after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, letters laced with anthrax began appearing in the U.S. mail. Five Americans were killed and 17 were sickened in what became the worst biological attacks in U.S. history. The ensuing investigation by the FBI and its partners — code-named ‘Amerithrax’..More about the event

October 12, 2000: “Suicide terrorists exploded a small boat alongside the USS Cole—a Navy Destroyer—as it was refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden. The blast ripped a 40-foot-wide hole near the waterline of the Cole, killing 17 American sailors and injuring many more. […] The extensive FBI investigation ultimately..More about the event

April 20, 1999: Two subjects walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and opened fire on both students and staff, as well as detonated explosive devices, some of which were planted in and around the school prior to entering. Initially, they had intended for it to be a bombing..More about the event

April 3, 1996: Starting in 1978 and stretching for nearly two decades, Theodore Kaczynski—also known as the Unabomber—sent primitive, untraceable, homemade explosives to a number of random targets that left the FBI puzzled. He often left false clues to throw off authorities, and lived as a recluse in the mountains..More about the event

April 19, 1995: A bomb ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh, and ex-Army soldier and security guard, had manufactured homemade explosives using agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals, and set the bombs with a timed fuse. He was arrested just 90..More about the event

February 28-April 19, 1993: The 51-day Waco Seige standoff ended when the the Branch Davidian compound was engulfed by fires set by the Davidians, after the FBI used tear gas in an attempt to force the occupants to leave. “On February 28, 1993, near Waco, Texas, four agents from the..More about the event

August 26, 1992: Although it spent most of its life as a tropical cyclone, its high winds left extensive damage to the Bahamas, Louisiana, and Florida, making landfall in south Florida as a Category 5 hurricane, with the maximum sustained surface wind speed estimated at about 145 mph. Until Hurricane Irma, it..More about the event

December 20, 1990-January 3, 1991: For fourteen days, California, particularly in the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley, suffered a severe freeze. With subfreezing temperatures, and even some locations experiencing temperatures in the teens, the record-breaking freeze caused billions of dollars worth of damage to citrus crops, as well as..More about the event

March 24, 1989: Oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil. Due to the remote location of the spill–it was accessible only by boat or helicopter–cleanup efforts were challenging, and it put current preparedness plans to the..More about the event

November 23, 1988: “The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, was signed into law, amending the Disaster Relief Act of 1974. The Stafford Act created the system in place today by which a presidential disaster declaration of an emergency triggers financial and physical assistance through the Federal..More about the event

June 14, 1985: TWA Flight 847 from Cairo to San Diego with stops in Athens and Rome, was hijacked by Mohammed Ali Hamadei, along with an armed accomplice. Over the next 17 days crisscrossing the Mediterranean from Beirut to Algiers, the 153 passengers and crew members were subject to beatings..More about the event

  September 1984: The Rajneesh cult succeeded with the first documented bioterror incident in the United States. “The cult planned to infect residents with Salmonella on election day to influence the results of county elections. To practice for the attack, they contaminated salad bars at 10 restaurants with S. Typhimurium on..More about the event

June-September 1980: Beginning in June and stretching until mid-September, the 1980 US Heat Wave was a period of intense heat and drought that plagued the central and eastern United States. Many states suffered through record-breaking heat, with Memphis, TN experiencing a 15-day stretch of temperatures over 100°F. Crops were damaged..More about the event

March 28, 1979: The Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) experienced a partial meltdown and was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history. Luckily,  there were no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public from the small radioactive releases, but the event spurred significant..More about the event

May 22, 1974: President Richard Nixon signed the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, amending a 1970 version of the legislation. The act expanded the assistance the federal government could provide to individuals, states, and local communities suffering from disasters. […] The Disaster Relief Act of 1974 authorized the President to:..More about the event

September 1970: In the month of September 1970, four aircraft bound for New York City and one for London, were hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Three of the aircraft were forced to land at Dawson’s Field, located in a remote desert near..More about the event

September 15, 1963: A dynamite bomb exploded in the back stairwell of the downtown Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church was well-known as a key civil rights meeting place, so the incident was easily classified as an act of racial hatred. With a lack of evidence, the..More about the event

June 27, 1952: The Immigration and Nationality Act, or INA, was created in 1952. Before the INA, a variety of statutes governed immigration law but were not organized in one location. The McCarran-Walter bill of 1952, Public Law No. 82-414, collected and codified many existing provisions and reorganized the structure..More about the event

June 20, 1949: The Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 is signed. “The CIA was created under the National Security Act of 1947. […] Two years later, President Truman signed the Central Intelligence Agency Act, which authorized CIA to secretly fund intelligence operations and conduct personnel actions outside of standard US..More about the event

April 16, 1947: Docked in Texas City, TX, the S.S. Grandcamp, loaded with a cargo 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, suddenly and mysteriously caught fire. After failed attempts to extinguish the flames, the cargo exploded, launching the cargo 2,000-3,000 feet in the air and causing a 15-foot tidal wave. ..More about the event

1930s: Following in the wake of the Homestead Act, settlers began populating and farming on the Great Plains, planting an abundance of dry-land wheat to try and keep up with demand. Beginning in 1930 and lasting for nearly a decade, the Great Plains suffered a severe drought that would only..More about the event

May 31-June 1, 1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre, also known as the Tusla Race Riots, began with an incident that took place on May 30, 1921, in which Dick Rowland, a young black teenager, entered an elevator at the Drexel office building. The elevator operator, a young white woman named..More about the event

1918-1919: In the spring of 1918, the first wave of the influenza epidemic struck in military camps in Kansas and throughout the U.S., but was generally mild. Those who contracted the flu usually recovered after several days of typical flu-like symptoms. However, when the second wave hit in the autumn..More about the event

September 8, 1900: A category 4 hurricane ripped through the port city of Galveston, Texas with winds over 135 miles per hour. Storm surges rose 15 feet and completely devastated the prosperous and, at the time, one of the biggest cities in Texas, with over 40,000 inhabitants. Galveston would go..More about the event

October 12, 1868: An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the region of San Francisco Bay. It lasted for more than 40 seconds and is considered one of the most destructive earthquakes in California’s history, regardless of the sparse population of the time. Shaking could be felt as far..More about the event

December 15, 1811: The 1811-1812 New Madrid Sequence consisted of three large earthquakes: A Magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck on December 15, 1811; a magnitude 7.3 that struck on January 23, 1812; and a magnitude 7.5 that struck on February 7, 1812. Following the earthquakes, hundreds of aftershocks were felt..More about the event