Worst Hurricanes in America (up to Irma)
Hurricane Agnes
Hurricane Agnes made it all the way inland to Pennsylvania. Although it was only a Category 1 storm (with winds from 74-95 mph), it still caused 122 deaths and caused $2.1 billion in damage.
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina is arguably the most notorious storm of the 21st century. The storm made landfall as a Category 5 near Miami before striking Louisiana as a Category 3 storm. Katrina was the third deadliest, and costliest hurricane in US history with more than 1,200 deaths and $108 billion in damage.
Hurricane Camille
It formed in the Gulf of Mexico and hit Mississippi as a Category 5 storm. She caused more than 256 deaths and clocks in as the second most intense hurricane to hit the US.
Hurricane Hugo
It made landfall as a Category 4 storm in South Carolina. It caused 21 deaths in the US and resulted in $7.1 billion of damage. At the time, it was the costliest storm in US history.
Hurricane Floyd
It was a catastrophic storm because of the rain it brought along. The rain caused extreme flooding from Noth Carolina on up as the Category 2 storm traveled up the East Coast.
The New England Hurricane
Nicknamed "Long Island Express," the storm hit Puerto Rico as a Category 5 storm before charging north and hitting Long Island, New York and Connecticut as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm was responsible for more than 256 deaths.
Great Atlantic Hurricane
The Hurricane of 1944 was also devastating to New England, with 64 deaths and more than $100 million in damage. The storm was a Category 3 as it sped up the coast, hitting the Carolinas, Rhode Island, and Long Island before downgrading to a Category 2 in Maine.
Hurricane Audrey
The US started naming storms with women's names starting in 1953. The first storm of the 1957 hurricane season was the deadliest of the 1950s. It originated in the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall in Texas as a Category 4 storm.
Hurricane of Galveston
The deadliest hurricane in US history happened at the turn of the 20th century. The Category 4 of 5 hurricane — with winds anywhere from 130-156 mph — made landfall in Galveston, Texas, then headed north through the Great Plains. Anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 people died in the storm.
Hurricane Ike
The third costliest storm in US history, with $29.5 billion in damage, occurred in September 2008. Starting off the west coast of Africa, it made its way over the Carribean and into the Gulf, making US landfall in Texas as a Category 2 storm.
The Atlantic-Gulf Hurricane
This Category 4 storm swept into the Gulf of Mexico right under Key West, Florida, landing as a Category 3 storm in Corpus Christi, Texas. Anywhere from 600 to 900 people died in that storm.
San Felipe Okeechobee
This hurricane was the second deadliest in US history, with more than 2,500 deaths. The Category 4 storm made landfall in Palm Beach on September 10, 1928. Puertor Rico got hit hard as well, with winds at 144 mph.
Tropical Storm Allison
While not an official hurricane, it clocks in as the costliest and deadliest tropical storm in US history, causing 41 deaths and costing more than $5 billion in damage. The storm started over the Gulf of Mexico near Texas, then traveled east, causing floods like the one pictured here in Houston, Texas.
Superstorm Sandy
With $71.4 billion in damage, Hurricane Sandy was the second costliest hurricane in US history. The Category 1 storm pummeled New York City, flooding the city's transportation systems and leaving thousands of homes destroyed.
Hurricane Harvey
the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year period with no major hurricanes making landfall in the country. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches of rain as the system meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing catastrophic flooding. It has caused at least 66 confirmed deaths; 1 in Guyana, and 65 in the United States. Catastrophic inland flooding is ongoing in the Greater Houston metropolitan area. FEMA director Brock Long called Harvey the worst disaster in Texas history, and expected the recovery to take many years. Economic losses are preliminarily estimated at between $70 to $190 billion, with a large portion of the losses sustained by uninsured homeowners.
Hurricane Irene
the first storm to hit the US since Ike three years earlier, made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm. The storm eventually made its way up to New York City, bringing flooding — like the kind pictured here in Puerto Rico — and causing $7.3 billion in damage overall.
