Biggest and wildest weather moments of 2022

Mother Nature in 2022 again proved itself to be a force to be reckoned with, impacting millions of Americans with weather events such as hurricanes, wildfires, devastating floods, record-breaking temperatures and extreme droughts. 

Here are five of the biggest and wildest weather moments in the U.S. this year:

Hurricane Ian ravages the Southeast, but Americans come together to lend a helping hand 

Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm in southwest Florida in late September, killing more than 120 people across the Sunshine State before heading through the Carolinas and causing an estimated $40 to $70 billion in total damage. 

Ian was the second-deadliest storm in the continental United States in the 21st Century since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 

However, during the scenes of destruction and despair, heartwarming stories emerged of Americans coming together to help each other – and the police.  

In Bonita Springs, Florida, good Samaritans were seen on video carrying an elderly man to safety through swift floodwaters after the man became trapped inside his car. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office also released body camera footage showing five deputies creating a human chain and venturing into 10-feet-deep rushing floodwaters to rescue a woman in Orlando. 

Fox News’ own Steve Harrigan made a rescue himself, carrying a man out of rising floodwaters in North Port, Florida, to safety. 

Lightning strikes outside of the White House, killing 3 

A lightning strike in Lafayette Park outside of the White House on Aug. 4 resulted in the deaths of James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75 – a couple from Wisconsin – and Brooks Lambertson, a 29-year-old bank executive from Los Angeles. 

Amber Escudero-Kontostathis survived the blast, suffering second degree burns throughout her body.  

The 28-year-old was hit on her birthday when she was supposed to be heading to a celebratory dinner. 

Escudero-Kontostathis later told Fox5 DC that she is now “just really appreciating every moment, every interaction because you really don’t know when it’s going to be your last one.” 

Incredible flooding closes Yellowstone National Park 

Unprecedented flooding at the iconic Yellowstone National Park in June washed out roads and bridges and caused the evacuation of more than 10,000 visitors from one of America’s most popular tourist destinations. 

The rush of water was caused by heavy rains and melting snowpack and forced park officials to close all entrances before starting to reopen them a week later. 

Trees were uprooted and washed away, rivers jumped their banks and tore out huge chunks of highway, bridges were destroyed and homes were swept off their foundations downstream. 

More than 80 people were rescued from flooded campgrounds and small towns. Remarkably, no one was hurt. 

6 sets of human remains found in drought-stricken Lake Mead 

A prolonged drought in the Western U.S. this year led authorities to discover bones and human remains in the receding Lake Mead, part of Nevada and Arizona. 

The most recent discovery was in October, when a diver came upon “what appeared to be a human bone in the Callville Bay area,” the National Park Service said.  

A dive team was then sent out the next day and confirmed the sixth finding since May of human remains in Lake Mead. 

In one of the discoveries, a body was found in a barrel near Hemenway Harbor. Authorities later determined that the deceased had died of a gunshot wound and ruled the death a homicide. 

NASA has released images of Nevada’s Lake Mead in July showing the lake’s rapid decline of water since 2000. The lake’s capacity was measured at just 35% in late August. 

Catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky leads to 39 deaths 

Devastating flooding in Kentucky over the summer led to 39 deaths and President Biden declaring a federal disaster. 

Some eastern parts of the state received between 8 and 10 and a half inches of rain over 48 hours at the end of July. 

As rainfall hammered Appalachia, water tumbled down hillsides and into valleys and hollows where it swelled creeks and streams coursing through small towns. The torrent engulfed homes and businesses and trashed vehicles. Mudslides marooned some people on steep slopes. 

A total of 1,334 rescues were completed between July 28 and Aug. 2 by the Kentucky National Guard, the Tennessee National Guard, the West Virginia National Guard, the Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. 

The flooding also extended into western Virginia and southern West Virginia. 

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf, Stephen Sorace, Bradford Betz, Audrey Conklin, Julia Musto and The Associated Press contributed to this report.