1737: Hurricane and earthquake strike India

On October 11, 1737 a furious hurricane hit the mouth of the Ganges river near Calcutta, India. At the same time there was a violent earthquake, which threw down a great many houses along the river just as the hurricane approached, many communities nearby had most of their buildings destroyed by the earthquake and then the hurricane hit. Because of the damaged infrastructure and wreckage from the earthquake, the hurricane was devastating. Estimates were made that the water was pushed up the Ganges river all the way into Calcutta at a height of 40 feet – totally destroying the city that at the time numbered more than 25,000 people. Most ships in the river were capsized and then washed well inland. The flood waters from the hurricane spread over the vast inland plain of what is now parts of India and Bangladesh. The result of hurricane and earthquake was one of the greatest natural disasters in world history. More than 300,000 people are thought to have perished.

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