Top 5 Most Costly Hurricanes in American History
Posted: Thursday, April 20, 2006
by David Stone
Stone Publishing
1. Hurricane Katrina (LA, MS, AL) 2005 Category 5, Estaimated Damage $76,000,000,000
One of the deadliest and the most costly storms in American history occurred during the 2005 hurricane season. This Category 5 storm caused a disaster when a huge storm surge which flooded up to 80% of the major coastal cities. Louisiana was hit the worst and accounts for most of the damage. Hurricane Katrina claimed the lives of 1,604 people making it one of the deadliest in history.
Striking southern Florida and raging through the Miami area Andrew was one of the most destructive hurricanes on record second only to Katrina. Andrew made a path through Florida and then entered the Gulf of Mexico where it fed off of the warmer waters before striking Louisiana with renewed force. In addition to being rated as one of the costliest Andrew is also on the top 5 list for most intense hurricanes. Fortunately the death toll was fairly low considering the damage it caused.
3. Hurricane Charley (SW FL) 2004 Category 4, Estimated Damage $15,400,000,000
Charley made landfall in Florida on August 13, 2004 just north of Fort Myers with winds of up to 150 mph. Charley was the second tropical storm to hit Florida that day as tropical storm Bonnie hit the northern panhandle near Apalachicola. The storm loosely followed the path of Interstate-4 before leaving land near Daytona Beach. The storm then moved up the east coast of the United States before breaking up. Ten deaths in the United States were attributed to Charley.
4. Hurricane Ivan (AL, NW FL) 2004 Category 3 Estimated Damage $17,700,000,000
Ivan made its first landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama and moved north-east through the southern United States. Ivan then looped around and crossed back through Florida to cross the Gulf of Mexico a second time and moved onto hit Louisiana and Texas. With winds of 130 miles per hour Ivan claimed the lives of nearly 92 people. During its path across Florida the storm caused several large tornadoes with tore several cities apart and caused 14 of the deaths.
5. Hurricane Hugo (SC, NC) 1989 Category 2, Estimated Damage $15,600,000,000
Making landfall in South Carolina on September 21, 1989 and moving in a northern direction to rage through North Carolina, Hugo was one of the most destructive on record. The storm claimed the lives of approximately 70-100 people and an accurate number cannot be determined since there were several mass graves dug on St. Croix and accurate records were not kept. Most heavily hit were the coastal areas of South Carolina.
About the Author:
David Stone is a regular contributor of articles to many online publications. Find more great information at http://my-hurricane-guide.info
This Article has been viewed 10,627 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)You do realize that Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi, abbreviated (MS) not (MI)? (MI) is Michigan.Thanks for the input. Slip of the fingers/editing. Too many "M" states, apparently.
umm maybe you should put the dates on when they occurred in the information...
well yeah mississippi is abbreviated ms not mi and there needs to be more information about the number of casualties.
Yes this article did help me. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
yeah it was but it's hard to belive
No. This doesn't even mention the hurricane that hit Galveston TX in 1900 and killed 8,000 people.
David Stone, you need to do some fact checking, because Hurricane Hugo was a Category 5. I survived it so I should know. Every anniversary of the storm, the news comments on how it was a category five.
yes i am only 12 years old and i had 2 write a 6 pge report thank you so very much for this interesting artical!!!!!!
Hey man, whats up ?
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.