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SKC Films Library >> In The Year... >> 1958

Disasters in 1958, page 2

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MINE

February 11 Eleven miners were killed when the elevator cage they were riding in fell in a mine near Lens, France.

February 19 Explosion and floods in coal mines at Asansol, India, killed 181 miners.

February 21 A mine elevator broke loose near Taipei, Formosa, killing 18 miners and injuring more than 30.

May 7 A coal mine near Nagasaki, Japan, was flooded; 29 miners were feared drowned.

May 11 Twelve miners were trapped when a gold mine in Malaya flooded.

June 9 A gas explosion inside a coal mine near Sunakawa, Japan, killed 10 miners.

August 27 A fire in a coal mine in southwest Poland resulted in 72 deaths.

September 1 A coal gas explosion killed 11 miners and trapped 3 others in Poland.

October 1 An explosion and rockslide in the Podvis Mine near Belgrade, Yugoslavia, killed 61 miners.

October 23 An underground earth shift in the Cumberland Railway and Coal Company's No. 2 mine at Springhill, Nova Scotia, killed 75 men. Another 99 men were trapped, some up to a week before being rescued. [story]

Bill Miller and Don Ferguson were among the survivors of the Springhill Mine Disaster

October 27 A gas explosion in a coal mine near Bishop, Virginia, killed 22 miners.

October 28 A gas explosion in a coal mine near Summersville, West Virginia, killed at least 13 miners and injured 4.

November 21 An explosion in the St. Charles IV coal mine in the French Lorraine killed 11 and injured 21 others.

NATURAL

January An earthquake injured hundreds and killed 28 near Arequipa, Peru.

January 4 Heavy rains and high winds in Cuba and southern Florida killed at least four persons and caused millions of dollars' worth of property damage.

January 13 Landslides and flood waters swept away the village of Pachaco, Peru, killing 100 persons.

January 15 The worst earthquake in 90 years struck Arequipa, Peru, destroying extensive parts of the city and killing 128 persons.

January 15 Flash flooding at Pachacc, Peru, killed 41 persons.

January 19 An earthquake near Esmeraldas, Ecuador, killed at least 14 persons.

January 24 A tornado destroyed 35-40 homes and caused $250,000 damage in Cochran, Georgia. No deaths were reported.

Residents of Cochran survey the damage left behind by the tornado

January 26-27 Storms along the southern and eastern coats of Japan sank seven ships and took 271 lives.

February 7-11 Blizzards accounted for 21 deaths in upstate New York.

February 15-20 Blizzards and severe cold caused at least 246 deaths deaths in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Syracuse, New York, was blanketed with 37 inches of snow.

February 26 A tornado left a 120-mile-wide path of destruction in Missisippi and killed at least 10 persons.


 March 19-21 Heavy snows throughout the northeastern United States caused 56 deaths and heavy damage.

top: The blizzard marooned 800 persons on the Pennsylvania Turnpike
bottom: The snows brought down telephone and electric lines in Baltimore, Maryland

March 31-April 4 Floods in northern California, caused by heavy springs rains and melting snows, resulted in 12 deaths and an estimated $15 million damage.

May 2 Storms across Texas caused at least 11 deaths.

May 23 At least 18 persons were killed when the village of Shahkoubeh, Iran, was flooded.

May 24 A flash food killed 18 persons in Çhankiri, Turkey.

June 4 Tornadoes in northwestern Wisconsin killed 30 persons, injured 350 others, and caused damage estimated at $10 million in a 90-mile area.

June 10-13 Floods in north central Indiana caused a reported 13 deaths, left 5,000 peoplehomeless, and caused property damage estimated at more than $35,000,000.

June 10 A tornado that struck El Dorado, Kansas, caused 13 deaths, injured 57, and caused damage estimated at $2 million.

Rescue workers search for survivors in El Dorado

June 13 A dust storm in western Pakistan killed 12 persons.

June 16 A Pacific storm sank 21 fishing vessels off Oaxaca State, Mexico, with an estimated death toll of 200.

June 24 Twelve people were killed when Mount Aso in southern Japan erupted.

July 4 Flooding killed 19 persons in Iowa. Damage, especially to highways and bridges, was extremely heavy.

July 6-8 Floods and landslides killed an estimated 40 persons in Korea and displaced about 2,000 families.

July 9 A powerful earthquake jolted Alaska, triggering tidal waves that killed 3 persons, cracked huge chunks of ice from a glacier, and swept away about 5 miles of land from Khantaak Island.

July 10 Flooding killed 24 persons in Kurund, India.

July 15-20 Severe floods occurred over much of Missouri, causing property damage estimated at $10,000,000.

Tops of storage granaries 'rise' above the floodwaters on a farm in north central Missouri

July 17 Typhoon Winnie killed about 21 persons near the east coast of Formosa.

July 24 Seven members of a family drowned in Spencer, West Virginia, in a flash flood that swept away their home.

July 26 Typhoon Alice struck Japan's main island and killed 41 persons.

July 28 Buenos Aires, Argentina, suffered its worst flooding in 18 years, with tens of millions of dollars worth of damage, at least 60 deaths, about 300 persons missing, and some 500,000 persons left homeless.

A Buenos Aires family rescues what it can from floodwaters

August 12 An avalanche west of Bogotá, Colombia, trapped passengers of several buses; 30 of them died.

August 15 Earthquakes in Iran killed at least 191 persons and injured about 984.

August 20 At least 13 persons were killed when a landslide and flood swept through the town of Crevola, Italy.

August 26 Typhoon Flossie blew out to sea after having killed at least 15 persons and leaving about 10,300 others homeless in Japan.

September 13 An estimated 7,000 homes were destroyed by flooding in central Korea.

September 27-October 5 Typhoon Ida, Japan's worst typhoon in 25 years, killed at least 681 persons and left an estimated 535,300 homeless.

Flooding left behind by Typhoon Ida

September 27 Hurricane Helene struck the North Carolina coast with 135 mph winds, torrential rains, and high tides. Damage was estimated at $6.8 million.

October 22 An earthquake killed 7 and injured 1,856 in Blitar, Java.

November 6 An extremely strong earthquake shook Japan, but no serious damage was reported.

November 15-19 Gales and blizzards in the Rocky Mountain states caused at least 34 deaths.

November 25 The second blizzard in a little more than a week struck Fargo, North Dakota, impeding traffic and closing schools.

Pedestrians and drivers brave the elements in Fargo

December 15 Snowstorms throughout New England caused the deaths of 15 persons, including seven Johnson and Johnson Company executives whose plane crashed in Rhode Island during a storm.

RAIL

January 1 Two passenger trains collided near New Delhi, India, killing 32 persons.

January 30 A commuter trains crashe into the rear of a standing train near Dagenham, England, killing 10 persons and injuring 30.

March 7 A commuter train crashed into two other trains in Santa Cruz, Brazil, killing 67 persons.

May 8 Two commuter trains collided outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 128 persons and injuring more than 300.

May 16 Twelve railroad employees were killed in Turkey when trains collided.

May 21 A derailment near Bombay, India, killed 30 persons and injured 41.

June 22 A train plunged down a mountain near Orizaba, Mexico, killing 20 persons.

June 26 A train derailment near Johannesburg, South Africa, killed 20 persons.

September 14 A cog train plunged from its track while descending a steep slope near Bonn, Germany, killing 17 persons.

September 15 Three cars of a Jersey Central commuter train went through an open drawbridge into Newark Bay near Bayonne, New Jersey; 48 persons died. All warning lights were found to be operational at the time of the accident, but there was no indication that the train engineer had begun braking until it was too late to avoid the disaster. [story]

One of the train cars hanging from the drawbridge

November 8 A train collision outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 22 persons.

November 19 A train collision near Chittagong, Pakistan, killed 16 persons.

STRUCTURAL

March 5 Eleven workmen were killed when a cofferdam collapsed at a bridge construction site in Montreal, Canada.

June 17 An unfinished bridge collapsed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, killing 18 workmen.

October 6 A bridge collapsed in Colombia, killing 30 persons.

VEHICLE

January 12 Two bus accidents near Toluca, Mexico, killed 22 persons.

February 16 A bus crash killed 16 persons in Quito, Ecuador.

February 23 A bus-truck collision in Venezuela killed 11 persons.

February 25 Sixty-four persons were killed when a bus plunged off a road in Andra Pradesh State, India.

February 28 A school bus crashed into the Big Sandy River at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, after hitting two other vehicles; 27 children and the bus driver drowned.

Investigators and spectators examine the wreckage of the school bus

May 26 A bus-truck collision in Brazil killed 22 persons.

June 10 A bus accident near Mexico City, Mexico, killed 17 persons.

June 17 Twelve persons were trapped in a bus that caught fire in Soledad, California.

October 23 A bus plunged into a ravine near Toluca, Mexico, killing 25 of the 26 persons aboard.

December 18 A truck fell into a 150-foot-deep chasm in southern Turkey, killing 28 persons.

December 21 An overloaded bus plunged into a ravine in Mexico, killing 70 persons.

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SKC Films Library >> In The Year... >> 1958

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