October 2005 Disasters

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

• Oct. 1, El Salvador: Ilamatepec volcano, the highest in El Salvador, erupted, killing 2. Thousand evacuated the area as boiling water poured down the slopes and a column of ash reached 50,000 ft high.
• Oct. 2, Lake George, N.Y.: a tour boat capsized on Lake George, killing 20 elderly tourists from Michigan.
• Oct. 2, China: Typhoon Longwang hit Taiwan and China killing 65.
• Oct. 1–5, Central America: Torrential rain occurring around the time of Hurricane Stan brought landslides and floods to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico, killing more than 2,000, and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate. In El Salvador more than 130,000 people were evacuated and 80% of the roads were affected. In Guatemala, continuous torrential rains brought floods and mudslides that killed more than 2,000 and buried the whole village of Panabáj.
• Oct. 7–Oct. 14, Northeast U.S.: Torrential rains caused flooded in several states in the Northeast, especially New Jersey and New Hampshire, killing at least 10.
• Oct. 8, Pakistan: a 7.6 earthquake centered in the Pakistani-controlled part of the Kashmir region killed more than 80,000 and injured 65,000. About half of the region’s capital city, Muzaffarabad, has been destroyed, other towns and villages were flattened, and the extreme mountainous terrain and bad weather made many areas unreachable for weeks after the quake. The tremors from the quake extended into India and Afghanistan. An estimated 4 million were left homeless with winter on the way and insufficient resources to provide shelter for the many homeless.
• Oct. 18–Oct. 24, Caribbean, Mexico, and Fla.: Wilma moved through Haiti, killing 11, and Jamaica, then strengthened to a Category 5 and the most intense hurricane in the Atlantic on record with a pressure reaching 882 mb. This was the third storm in the season to reach Category 5. Wilma struck the Yucatan Peninsula battering the tourist areas of Cozumel, Cancun, and Playa del Carmen for more than 24 hours destroying hotels and thousands of homes. Moving back to the east, she made landfall at Naples, Fla. and raced across the state, severely damaging all of southern Fla. from the Keys through to the east coast areas of Dade and Broward county. Wilma left 19 dead in the Caribbean and Mexico and 6 in Florida. Extensive flooding also occurred in Cuba.
• Oct. 22, Haiti: Heavy rainfall and flooding in Haiti from Hurricane Alpha killed 12.
• Oct. 22, Lagos, Nigeria: After take-off from Lagos, a Nigerian Bellview Airlines Boeing 737-200 enroute to Abuja crashed, killing all 117.
• Oct. 30, Nicaragua and Honduras: Heavy rainfall and flooding were caused by Hurricane Beta when it hit Nicaragua and Honduras. Beta was the 23rd named storm in the Atlantic this year, breaking the record of named Atlantic storms since 1851. It was the 13th Atlantic hurricane also breaking previous records.

See also Major Earthquakes Around the World 2005

See also Estimated Deaths from Earthquakes, 2005

See also Recent Volcanic Activity