Top 5 deadly superstorms of US

New York, Oct 29: As

has caused large-scale devastation across

, here we bring you the list of five deadly

ever to hit the world hard.

1. Superstorm Sandy: It is a massive, late-season tropical cyclone that has affected Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the United States, and is currently affecting the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coasts of the United States and Eastern Canada. The 18th tropical cyclone, 18th named storm, and 10th hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Sandy developed from an elongated tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on Oct 22. It became a tropical depression, quickly strengthened and was upgraded to a tropical storm six hours later. Sandy moved slowly northward towards the Greater Antilles and gradually strengthened.

2. Columbus Day Storm of 1962: The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 (also known as the Big Blow and originally as Typhoon Freda) was an extratropical cyclone that struck the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States on Oct 12, 1962. The storm ranks among the most intense to strike the region since at least 1948, likely since the Jan 9, 1880 "Great Gale" and snowstorm. The storm is a contender for the title of most powerful extratropical cyclone recorded in the US in the 20th century; with respect to wind velocity, it is unmatched by the Mar 1993 "Storm of the Century" and the "1991 Halloween Nor'easter" ("The Perfect Storm"). The system brought strong winds to the Pacific Northwest and southwest Canada and was linked to 46 fatalities in the northwest and Northern California resulting from heavy rains and mudslides.

3. Great Storm of 1975: The Great Storm of 1975 (also known as the Super Bowl Blizzard, Minnesota's Storm of the Century or the Tornado Outbreak of January, 1975) was an intense storm system that impacted a large portion of the Central and Southeast United States from Jan 9 to Jan 12, 1975. The storm produced 45 tornadoes in the Southeast US resulting in 12 fatalities, while later dropping over 2 feet (61 cm) of snow and killing 58 people in the Midwest. This storm remains one of the worst blizzards to ever strike parts of the Midwest as well as one of the largest January tornado outbreaks on record in the United States.

4. 1991 Perfect Storm: The 1991 Perfect Storm, also known as the Halloween Nor'easter of 1991, was a nor'easter that absorbed Hurricane Grace and ultimately evolved back into a small unnamed hurricane late in its life cycle. The initial area of low pressure developed off Atlantic Canada on Oct 28. Forced southward by a ridge to its north, it reached its peak intensity as a large and powerful cyclone. The storm lashed the East Coast of the United States with high waves and coastal flooding before turning to the southwest and weakening. Moving over warmer waters, the system transitioned into a subtropical cyclone before becoming a tropical storm.

5. January 2008 Western North American storm complex: The January 2008 Western North American storm complex was a powerful Pacific Ocean coastal storm that affected a large area in Western North America stretching from western British Columbia to near the Tijuana, Mexico area starting on Jan 3, 2008. The system was responsible for flooding rains across many areas in California along with very strong winds locally exceeding hurricane force strength as well as heavy mountain snows across the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain chains as well as those in Idaho, Utah and Colorado. The storms were responsible for the death of at least 12 people across three states and extensive damage to utility services as well as to some structures.

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