History: Dust Bowl, Dirty Thirties, 1930s, Great Plains, American And Canadian Prairies

Human displacement
This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region. The Dust Bowl has been identified as the "most extreme natural event in 350 years".
• U.S.
In 1935, many families were forced to leave their farms and travel to other areas seeking work because of the drought (which at that time had lasted four years). Dust Bowl conditions fomented an exodus of the displaced from Texas, Oklahoma, and the surrounding Great Plains to adjacent regions. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. Over 350 houses had to be torn down after one storm alone. The severe drought and dust storms had left many homeless, others had their mortgages foreclosed by banks, and others felt they were left no choice but to abandon their farms in search of work. Many Americans migrated west looking for work. Parents were forced to pack up "jalopies" with their families and a few personal belongings, and head west in search of work. Some residents of the Plains, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma, fell ill and died of dust pneumonia or malnutrition.