15 Biggest, Deadliest, Most Devastating Hurricanes to Hit the United States

When you finish reading about  15 biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States, you’ll be thanking God you’re not living in a hurricane-prone area! If you do live there, this article will send shivers down your spine!

What are hurricanes? They’re nothing else but big tropical storms that have gone wrong. Terribly wrong. The most terrifying thing is that there is nothing much to be done about it. Scientists know everything about their inception. They’re usually formed around the coasts of Africa. By the time they reach America, they either gain on strength, or they disappear completely. The first option is the scariest. On the bright side, sometimes a hurricane loses strength, and it turns into a storm on its landfall. Actually, it doesn’t have to be as good as it sounds. For instance, the name Sandy doesn’t bring associations to Sandy from the movie Grease anymore. Rather it makes everyone shiver at the thought of hurricane Sandy, or a tropical storm, to be more precise. Hurricane Sandy was “only” a category three hurricane before it hit the States, but it downsized to a tropical storm on landfall. The storm destroyed or damaged around 650,000 homes and caused death to 159 people.

If we’re talking numbers, the deadliest hurricane in the world, would be the Great Hurricane of 1780. It absolutely devastated the Caribbean. No one knows its maximum speed, but supposedly it was over 200 mph, which makes it eligible for the list of strongest hurricanes ever. As for the US, everybody has heard of the Great Galveston hurricane, and for an unfortunate reason. Between 8,000 and 12,000 are reported to have lost their lives. The second in line claimed 2,500-3,000 lives, and it found its place on our list. Not to mention the Great Miami hurricane of 1926. If you’re already cringing at the sight of these figures, why don’t you read our article on top 10 natural disaster prone countries with the worst most costly disasters in the world and just keep away from them? Or about 10 most dangerous states for natural disasters and the 11 countries with most earthquakes? You can never be too safe.

Now let’s see how we determined the largest, deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in the US territory. Actually, we ordered them according to the title. First, we searched for the list of major hurricanes, i.e., the ones with the maximum speed since that is what puts a hurricane into its infamous category (from 1 to 5). Basically, a hurricane’s strength or size is measured by its speed, and we found the data at WUWT. Naturally, we only focused on those that made landfall into the US territory (Puerto Rico was excluded since it only partially belongs to the US). As for the next step, we had to determine the number of victims and the enormity of destruction. The death tolls and damage costs were taken from Sun Sentinel, Fox 46, Chest Journal, CNN, Weather, Hurricane Science, National Weather Service, Premium Times, and Balance. To sum up, the hurricanes are ranked according to their maximum speed, and if the speeds matched (as they did on several occasions), the number of deaths ranked it higher.

As for the cost, it will be given, and if this information especially astounds you, click on our 11 most expensive natural disasters in the world, where you can read about the most devastating hurricanes in world history and recent devastating hurricanes as well.

The unfortunate events are nicely summed up in the list of 15 biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States. You’ll have the year, the location, the speed, the death toll… Plenty of information awaits you.

15. Hurricane Gloria

Year: 1985

Maximum speed: 145 mph

Death toll: 8

Damage cost: $900 million (1.94 billion in 2012)

Its first landfall was in the Bahamas, and the second hit New York. Luckily, it was with less force. Still, the New Yorkers memorized it for good since it was the first such storm to hit the Big Apple since Hurricane Donna in 1960.

14. Hurricane Opal

Year: 1995

Maximum speed: 150 mph

Death toll: 9

Damage cost: $2.1 billion

Hurricane Opal was formed in September, but disaster hit in October at Pensacola Beach, Florida. Once again, it was lucky that the hurricane had already unleashed its fury elsewhere (Mexico). Still, the damage caused would’ve equaled 2.1 billion dollars today.

13. Hurricane Floyd

Year: 1999

Maximum speed: 155 mph

Death toll: 56

Damage cost: about $6 billion

We are continuing our list of biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States with Hurricane Floyd which caused real disaster in the eastern Carolinas northeast into New Jersey, and in adjacent areas along the east coast into Maine. The 15-20 inches of rain that fell across the eastern half of the state had every river and stream flooding the area. As a consequence, some parts remained under the water for weeks.

12. Hurricane Hugo

Year: 1989

Maximum speed: 160 mph

Death toll: 50 (21 in the US)

Damage cost: $10 billion ($17.5 billion today)

Hurricane Hugo ranks 12th on our list of biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States. It completely devastated the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and South and North Carolina. It all started with a cluster of thunderstorms and ended up with a catastrophe. It must be stressed that over 1 billion board-feet of lumber (70% of all lumber-quality trees) fell in the Francis Marion National Forest located in South Carolina. This caused for the whole logging operation to cease, and consequently, the wood quality was so low that loggers were selling it at half the price. Imagine the effect on the family budget.

11. Okeechobee Hurricane

Year: 1928

Maximum speed: 160 mph

Death toll: between 2,500-3,000

Damage cost: $25 million (around $400 million today)

Okeechobee Hurricane is an oldie, from the times when hurricanes weren’t given special names, so it is also known as San Felipe II or the Storm of ’28. The papers from the time report the lake had turned into a sea. Thousands of people lost their homes, and the insurance probably wasn’t as good as it is nowadays.

Up next on our list are ten biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States.

10. Hurricane Isabel

Year: 2003

Maximum speed: 165 mph

Death toll: 16

Damage cost: $5.37 billion

In September 2003, Isabel caused the destruction that wiped off northeast North Carolina and east-central Virginia. The storm of such consequences hadn’t been seen since Hazel (1954).

9. Hurricane Ivan

Year: 2004

Maximum speed: 165 mph

Death toll: 91

Damage cost: $18 billion

On 16 September, the hurricane arrived near Gulf Shores, AL, on the Alabama-Florida border, as a Category 3 hurricane with winds slowing down to “mere” 120 mph and a 4.3-m (14-ft) storm surge. Its effect was disastrous because it caused a plethora of tornadoes over the territory. This was one of the worst hurricanes in Florida since Pensacola and areas west were the hardest hit.

8. Hurricane Andrew

Year: 1992

Maximum speed: 175 mph

Death toll: 65

Damage cost: $26.5 million

When if finally hit Florida, it belonged to Category 5 and only a bit later developed into a category 4 hurricane. Sadly,  63,000 homes were destroyed and  124,000 were damaged. But people weren’t the only ones to suffer. 187 million freshwater fish were killed in the basin and Bayou Lafourche.

7. Hurricane Camille

Year: 1969

Maximum speed: 175 mph

Death toll: over 256

Damage cost: $1.45 billion

Another pretty name in the list of horrifying 15 biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States. Its force was such that it actually made the Mississippi River flow backward from its mouth in Venice, LA to a place north of New Orleans, LA, which is a distance of 200 km (125 mi).

6. Hurricane Katrina

Year: 2005

Maximum speed: 175 mph

Death toll: 1,833

Damage cost: $108 billion

Everyone has heard of one of the major hurricanes in the last 15 years since it’s one of the most recent, but also one of the most destructive hurricanes ever if we observe the damage. The population of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,  and Mississippi probably still has nightmares. Especially Louisiana. Over 1,500 people died during the storm.

5. Hurricane Rita

Year: 2005

Maximum speed: 180 mph

Death toll: 117

Damage cost: $10 billion

To escape Rita, about 2.5 million people were evacuated. Fortunately, the storm missed great population centers. However, most of the deaths happened because of the evacuation process itself. 10% lost their lives due to hypothermia in the vehicles.

4. Hurricane Wilma

Year: 2005

Maximum speed: 185 mph

Death toll: 25

Damage cost: $20.6 billion

Hurricane Wilma made a mess in Florida, to say the least. 3.2 million or more Florida homes, and businesses lost electric power,and more than 6 million people were affected by the storm in this way or the other.

And now, let’s see the top three biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States.

3. Hurricane Irma

Year: 2017

Maximum speed: 185 mph

Death toll: 72

Damage cost: $100 billion

Irma is definitely one of the most recent hurricanes in the United States and on the top of the list of major hurricanes in the last 10 years. It’s specific because it covered a wide area. We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of miles affected by the gigantic storm. Of course, this is Florida again.

2. Hurricane Labor Day

Year: 1935

Maximum speed: 185 mph

Death toll: 408

Damage cost: $6 million

The Labor Day storm or the Florida Keys is still talked about for a reason. Hemingway asked later: “Who killed the vets?” (actually, he wrote an article. 259 World War 1 veterans were living in three Civilian Conservation Corps camps while working on the Overseas Highway. Due to bad organization, the evacuation train was late, thus causing the death of war heroes.

1. Hurricane Allen

Year: 1980

Maximum speed: 190 mph

Death toll: 249 (211 in Texas)

Damage cost: $300 million

Hurricane Allen is the first of 15 biggest, deadliest, most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States, and the most unusual, too. The disaster story had lots of twists and turns. It turned into the Category 5 three times, which hadn’t been recorded before. Louisiana and Texas were most affected. Louisiana’s oil platforms suffered great damage, while Austin airport had to invest $50 million to do the repairs.