1887 Yellow River Flood

In late September 1887, the Yellow River — known in China as "China's Sorrow" — breached its levees near Zhengzhou in Henan Province during the Qing Dynasty, killing an estimated 900,000 to 2 million people. The floodwaters covered 50,000 square miles, destroying more than 1,500 towns and villages across the densely populated North China Plain. Famine and epidemic in the months that followed compounded the initial death toll, making this the second-deadliest flood in recorded history.