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LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 01: People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was hear on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gunman has opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, leaving at least 20 people dead and more than 100 injured. Police have confirmed that one suspect has been shot. The investigation is ongoing. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) Getty Images

Photos from a year of American carnage

By Liz Sullivan

December 29, 2017

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From natural disasters to ruthless gun attacks, 2017 was a year of tragedy and heartbreak for America.

Hurricane Harvey devastates Houston, Texas:

On Aug. 24, the National Hurricane Center noted that Hurricane Harvey was quickly strengthening and is forecast to be a category 3 Hurricane when it approaches the middle Texas coast. In addition, life-threatening storm surge and freshwater flooding expected. On Aug. 24, many warnings and watches were in effect: A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from Port Mansfield to San Luis Pass Texas. A Storm Surge Watch is in effect from south of Port Mansfield Texas to the mouth of the Rio Grande River and from north of San Luis Pass to High Island, Texas. A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Port Mansfield to Matagorda, Texas. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from north of Matagorda to High Island, Texas and south of Port Mansfield, Texas to the Mouth of the Rio Grande. A Hurricane Watch is in effect from south of Port Mansfield, Texas to the Mouth of the Rio Grande. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from south of the mouth of the Rio Grande to Boca de Catan, Mexico. GOES-16 captured this geocolor image of Tropical Storm Harvey in the Gulf of Mexico this morning, August 24, 2017. Geocolor imagery enhancement shown here displays geostationary satellite data in different ways depending on whether it is day or night. This image, captured as daylight moves into the area, offers a blend of both, with nighttime features on the left side of the image and daytime on the right. (NOAA/NASA GOES Project) — A satellite image of the massive storm Hurricane Harvey as it approached the Texas coast on August 24. (NOAA/NASA GOES Project). READ: Are extreme hurricanes linked to climate change?

Evacuees wade down a flooded section of Interstate 610 as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston. (David J. Phillip/AP/CP). READ: What it feels like to survive a hurricane.

Hurricane Maria slames Puerto Rico:

A man rides his bicycle through a damaged road in Toa Alta, west of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 24, 2017 following the passage of Hurricane Maria. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images). READ: Searching for sincerity in Trump’s trip to Puerto Rico.

Family members collect belongings after hurricane force winds destroyed their house in Toa Baja, west of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 24, 2017 following the passage of Hurricane Maria. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images).

A gunman in Las Vegas massacred 58 people and left nearly 500 injured:

People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was hear on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) READ: Thoughts and prayers and America’s mass delusion.

People assist a wounded woman at the Tropicana during an active shooter situation on the Las Vegas Stir. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal/AP/CP) READ: How Las Vegas shooting victim Jordan McIldoon didn’t die alone.

White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. turns deadly

Peter Cvjetanovic (R) and other neo Nazi, alt-right, and white supremacist marchers encircle and chant at counter protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches on August 11. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images). READ: It wasn’t a lone flare-up, Charlottesville really is America.

People are thrown into the air as a car drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017. The white nationalists were holding the rally to protest plans by the city of Charlottesville to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. There were several hundred counterprotesters marching in a long line when the car drove into a group of them. (Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress/AP/CP) — People are thrown into the air as a car drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12. The attack killed one protestor, Heather Heyer, and left 19 injured. (Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress/AP/CP). READ: Charlottesville and the politics of fear.

A gunman kills 26 and injures 20 at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas

Investigators work at the scene of a deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Sunday Nov. 5, 2017. A man opened fire inside of the church in the small South Texas community on Sunday, killing more than 20 people. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP/CP) — Investigators work at the scene of a deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday Nov. 5. A man opened fire inside of the church in the small South Texas community, killing more than 20 people. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP/CP). READ: How do we decide what we consider ‘terrorism’?

The memorial crosses for the victims of the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting stand covered in flowers, gifts and notes in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 11, 2017. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post/Getty Images) — The memorial crosses for the victims of the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting stand covered in flowers, gifts and notes on November 11, 2017. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post/Getty Images) READ: 2017 is the deadliest year for mass shootings in U.S. modern history.

ISIS supporter rams a truck into pedestrians in New York City killing eight

Police work near a damaged Home Depot truck Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017, after a motorist drove onto a bike path Tuesday near the World Trade Center memorial, striking and killing several people, in New York. (Andres Kudacki/AP) — Police work near a damaged Home Depot truck Wednesday, November 1 after Sayfullo Saipov, an ISIS supporter who immigrated from Uzbekistan in 2010, drove a rented truck onto a bike path near the World Trade Center memorial, killing eight people. (Andres Kudacki/AP) READ: How terrorists use propaganda to recruit lone wolves.

Authorities investigate the scene near a covered body on a bike path after a motorist drove onto the path near the World Trade Center memorial, striking and killing several people, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, in New York. (Bebeto Matthews/AP/CP) — Authorities investigate the scene near a covered body on a bike path after the attack in New York City. (Bebeto Matthews/AP/CP)

California wildfires:

Firefighters walk to the fire line at the Lilac fire in Bonsall, California on December 7. (Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images). READ: See more stunning photos from the devastation caused by the California wildfires.

Residences burned by wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, U.S., on October 12. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

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