The Archive
Disaster History
Every major disaster produced knowledge. Building codes, warning systems, evacuation plans, and household habits all trace back to specific events. This archive studies those events so the lessons stay usable.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
How to read this archive
The frame is the lesson, not the event.
Each hazard page covers how that hazard behaves, where U.S. risk concentrates, and which landmark events reshaped the response to it. Case study pages go deeper on single events: what happened, why systems failed, and what changed after. Casualty figures are stated once and cited. Every claim traces to an official record.
Understanding what happened is half the work. Each page links to the matching preparedness guide so the history turns into something you can act on at home.
Browse by hazard
Hazard histories
Hurricane
Tropical systems from formation to landfall. Galveston 1900 to the present, and how forecasting, evacuation, and building codes changed after each landmark storm.
Read the historyEarthquake
How earthquakes form, where U.S. seismic risk concentrates, and what major events from 1906 to the present have taught us about living near fault lines.
Read the historyFlood
The most common U.S. disaster. River floods, flash floods, and levee failures, and how flood mapping, insurance, and warning systems grew out of each one.
Read the historyTornado
Tornado Alley and beyond. How tornadoes form, how the warning system evolved from 1948 onward, and what the deadliest outbreaks changed.
Read the historyWinter Storm
Ice storms, blizzards, and deep freezes. How cold-weather disasters strain infrastructure, and what events like the 2021 Texas freeze changed.
Read the historyGrid Failure
The overview page for grid failures is in progress. The Northeast Blackout of 2003 case study below is already published.
Overview coming soonCase studies
Landmark events, studied closely.
Hurricane · Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria, 2017
The longest blackout in U.S. history and what it revealed about island infrastructure, federal response, and household water and power resilience.
Read the case studyWinter Storm · Texas
Texas Freeze, 2021
Winter Storm Uri, the ERCOT grid collapse, and the week that reshaped how Texas thinks about winterization, water systems, and home heating.
Read the case studyGrid Failure · Northeast U.S.
Northeast Blackout, 2003
A software bug and an untrimmed tree took power from 55 million people. The failure chain, the investigation, and the reliability standards that followed.
Read the case studyFrom history to readiness
The events in this archive are the reason preparedness guidance exists. See what applies where you live, then work through the checklist for your hazards.