A timeline of some of the biggest disasters in New York’s history. (For the history of big New York fires, go to pages 324 and 353.)
1668: A yellow fever epidemic hit New York City, one of the first recorded outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease in Colonial America. (The disease isn’t endemic to the Americas; it was brought by the Europeans.) The number of fatalities is unknown, but Governor Francis Lovelace noted that “many people” died every day. Yellow fever epidemics occurred several more times in New York City; the last recorded outbreak came in 1870.
1836: The Mexico, a ship that had departed from Liverpool, England, ran aground off of Long Island on New Year’s Eve. A rescue boat didn’t arrive until the next afternoon, and 115 passengers and crew froze to death while waiting.
1896: Temperatures in New York City rose above 90°F for 10 days—day and night. In the stifling heat, nearly 1,500 died, mostly as a result of crowded tenements and a citywide ban on sleeping outdoors.
1915: A dynamite blast set off by subway workers under Seventh Avenue and 25th Street in Manhattan caused an entire block of the crowded street above to collapse. Seven people were killed; nearly 100 more were seriously injured.
1918: A subway train derailed beneath Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Malbone Street. The “Malbone Street Wreck” killed 97 people, most of whom were heading home from work. It remains the worst subway wreck in history.
1920: A bomb hidden in a horse-drawn carriage went off on Wall Street at noon. More than 300 were injured and 38 killed. The perpetrators were never found.
1928: A defective switch caused a subway to derail underneath Times Square. The car smashed through a tunnel wall and was cut in half. The crash killed 16 and injured 100.
Smallest city in New York State: Sherrill, with just over 3,000 residents.
1957–65: During this eight-year span, six passenger jets crashed in and around New York City, caused by a variety of electrical problems and pilot errors. The crashes killed 399 people, including passengers, crew, and six people on the ground.
1975: On December 29, a bomb exploded in the crowded baggage-claim area of LaGuardia Airport’s TWA terminal. More than 70 holiday travelers were injured and 11 were killed. The bombing remains unsolved.
1990: Avianca Flight 52 crashed at Cove Neck, Long Island, killing 73 of 158 passengers and crew.
1993: A truck bomb exploded in the World Trade Center’s underground garage, killing six and injuring more than a thousand.
1996: TWA Flight 800 exploded 12 minutes after takeoff from JFK and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island. All 230 people onboard were killed. The explosion was at first thought to be a bomb, but was later determined to be an explosion of fuel vapors caused by an electrical short circuit.
2001: The 9/11 terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda brought down the two 110-story World Trade Center towers and several surrounding buildings. A total of 2,996 people were killed, including the 19 attackers. It was the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
2001: On November 21, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens shortly after takeoff from JFK Airport, killing all 260 on board and five people on the ground. The cause was later determined to be the result of turbulence from another plane and overuse of the rudder by the pilot.
2003: The Staten Island Ferry crashed into a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal of Staten Island, killing 11 and injuring 70.
2009: On January 15, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 flew into a flock of Canada geese, causing both engines to fail. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger carefully ditched the plane in the Hudson River—and all of the 155 people on board survived. One member of the National Transportation Safety Board said, “It has to go down [as] the most successful ditching in aviation history.”
Total manpower used to cut the 20 miles of tunnels for the NYC subway: 7,700 men.