Throughout the decades, New York has had its share of deadly disasters, including fires, plane crashes, shipwrecks and more.

7. March 25, 1911 (Fire) - 146 Death Toll

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire took place in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. The victims died from smoke inhalation, the fire, or falling or jumping. The exits were locked, so many of the workers could not escape. The fire killed 146 people - 123 women and girls, and 23 men.

The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. ~ Wikipedia

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6. November 23 to 26, 1966 (Smog) - 168 Death Toll

Stagnant air over the city caused high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, smoke, and haze.

Two major medical studies have analyzed the extent of casualties from the smog. Leonard Greenburg—the same medical researcher who had previously published findings on the death count of the 1953 and 1963 smogs—published a paper in October 1967 showing that the previous year's smog had likely killed 168 people. ~ Wikipedia

5. July 17, 1996 (Plane Crash) - 230 Death Toll

TWA Flight 800 was heading to Paris, France, from JFK. Before the plane could get very far, it crash into the Atlantic Ocean near Long Island. All of the 230 people on the plane died in the crash. After the public initially believed the crash may have been due to terrorism, authorities determined that a fuel tank likely caused an explosion,

With the Summer Olympics set to begin in Atlanta in two days, speculation of a terrorist bombing immediately arose. But after one of the most intricate inquiries in aviation history, which included the first full-scale re-creation of a downed aircraft from its debris, NTSB investigators ruled out terrorism. They focused instead on the aircraft's near-empty center fuel tank, where, they determined, an explosion of still unknown origin brought the plane down.

 

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4. November 12, 2001 (Plane Crash) - 265 Death Toll

American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in Queens. All of the 251 passengers and 9 crew member on board were killed in the crash. Five people on the ground also perished. Because of the proximity to the September 11 attacks, initially there was concern that it might be another terrorsit attack. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the crash to,

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by the first officer’s unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs. Contributing to these rudder pedal inputs were characteristics of the Airbus A300-600 rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program.

 

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3. December 5, 1876 (Fire) - 278 Death Toll

The fire happened at the Brooklyn Theatre while over 1,000 people were in attendance of the stage play The Two Orphans.  The fire started on the left side of the stage around 11:20 pm, while the cast and crew were getting ready for the final act. While the crew tried to extinguish the fire, they were unsuccessful.

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2. June 15, 1904 (Shipwreck) -  1,021 Death Toll

The PS General Slocum caught on fire, which caused it to wreck. The ship sank in the East River of New York City. Of the 1,342 people on board, 1,021 died.  It was the deadliest disaster in New York, until the attacks on September 11.

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1. September 11, 2001 (Terrorist Attacks) - 2,763 Death Toll

The September 11 terrorist attacks were the deadliest in the history of the United States.  New York City suffered the worst death toll of the three sites, which also included The Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, while United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower.  The death toll includes the passengers on the planes, the crew, victims on the ground, and the hijackers.  It also includes the first responders who died in the line of duty,

It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 340 and 72 killed, respectively.

There were also countless deaths attributed to the attacks that happened years later, many due to illnesses caused by breathing in the toxic dust.

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LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

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