The 10 deadliest storms on record

Hurricane Matthew reached Category 4 levels Thursday as it barreled toward the United States with winds of at least 140 miles per hour.

"This storm will kill you," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday, urging residents to evacuate.

While Matthew threatens the southern coast, history's most deadly storms have taken place outside the United States.

Located off the Indian Ocean's triangular Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh – one of the world's most densely populated countries – is prone to tropical cyclones, enduring two of the world's worst storms in 1970 and 1991, according to the International Disaster Database, which tracks effects of more than 22,000 disasters from 1900 to present day.

[READ: The safest countries, ranked.]

Since 1991, the country has improved its tropical storm preparedness, according to a 2012 report from the World Health Organization which cites a severe cyclone in 2007 that caused just 4,234 deaths.

In 2008, nearby Myanmar wasn't so lucky, falling victim to Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 138,000 people. Many died when a wall of sea water pelted the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta.

Based on death toll, here are the worst storms in recorded history: