The Creator has said concerning past nations:

So We punished each (of them) for his sins, of them were some on whom We sent Hasiban (a violent wind with shower of stones) [as the people of Lout (Lot)], and of them were some who were overtaken by As­Saihah [torment ­ awful cry, etc. (as Thamud or Shu'aib's people)], and of them were some whom We caused the earth to swallow [as Qarun (Korah)], and of them were some whom We drowned [as the people of Nuh (Noah), or Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and his people]. It was not Allah Who wronged them, but they wronged themselves.    (Al-Quran, Chapter 29, Verse 40)

A prominent American Muslim, Islamic scholar, theologian and chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi discusses on this subject in an article published in Pakistan Link.