Hurricanes & Tropical
Storms
Hurricanes produce storm surges, tornadoes, and often the most deadly of all – inland flooding. More than 60% of our Nation’s population lives in coastal states from New York to Texas, Hawaii, and Florida. While storm surge is always a potential threat, more people have lost their lives and suffered severe property damage from inland flooding due to storms over the past 30 years than any other reason.
The deadliest hurricane in US history was The Great Galveston Hurricane in 1900. Leaving about 8,000 deceased, this hurricane was a Category 4 storm and had winds up to 145 miles per hour. This storm, in older documents, was called “The Galveston Flood.”
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina had property damages over $108 billion (in 2013 dollars) mainly due to storm surge along the Mississippi coast and the inundation of New Orleans due to the storm surge topping, breaching, and essentially collapsing the levees. A common misconception, however, is that the lower a hurricane category the less of a threat the hurricane will actually be.