What were the 10 biggest and deadliest hurricanes EVER?
Here a list of the 10 worst hurricanes ever!
What were the biggest hurricanes in history? Every hurricane season, some areas of coastline around the world are threatened. To get some sense of the proportion of the damage caused by these storms, here’s a look back at the most destructive hurricanes ever recorded– simply the deadliest, largest, and most threatening hurricanes of all time.
Bhola cyclone
Taking the cake for the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, the 1970 Bhola Cyclone hit East Pakistan and India’s West Bengal on November 12, 1970. While the exact death toll is unknown it is estimated that 300,000-500,000 people perished in the aftermath of this storm, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent history.
Typhoon Nina
Super Typhoon Nina landed onto the scene with a bang, hitting China hard and quickly destroying the Banqiao Dam. The collapse of the Banqiao Dam led to such great flooding that it set off a series of dam collapses throughout China, greatly magnifying the damage caused by Typhoon Nina. With a 100,000+ death toll, Super Typhoon Nina is the 2nd deadliest Typhoon in recorded history.
Hurricane Kenna
Kenna, a category 5 hurricane, was the 3rd most intense Pacific hurricane to ever strike Mexico’s West Coast. Hitting San Blas, Nayarit on October 25th, 2002, was the 3rd category 5 hurricane of the hurricane season. 140 mph winds and a 16-foot surge devastated the coastline, causing $101 million dollars in damage.
Hurricane Pauline
One of the most destructive and deadliest Pacific hurricanes to make landfall in Mexico. Pauline dumped torrential rainfalls with 16″ of rain in Acapulco alone! The relentless downpour caused disastrous land slides in some of Mexico’s poorest villages, killing roughly 250-400 people and leaving a striking 300,000 people homeless. Beyond all the lives destroyed, Hurricane Pauline caused a massive amount of damage, exceeding $7.5 billion (USD 1997).
Learn what’s the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon in the following video:
Hurricane Iniki
When people think of Hawaii, they often imagine lazy days of surfing and long luaus that go into the night. The last thing most people think of is hurricanes, yet in September of 1992 that’s just what they got. Born from the strong El Nino warm phase of 91-94, Hurricane Iniki reached cateogry 4 level winds as the eye passed over the island of Kauaʻi. Not surprisingly, the Hawaiians handled the effects of Hurricane Iniki amazingly well. Communities held parties to cook all the perishable food since the power was knocked out. Amazingly, there were only six deaths attributed to Hurricane Iniki even though the islanders were given less than 24 hours notice. The monetary damage, however, was huge for the small island, totalling over $1.8 billion (USD 1992).
Galveston Hurricane of 1900
The year was 1900, the place was Galveston, Texas. On September 4th, a warning was released, saying a large tropical storm had just passed Cuba and was headed west across the Gulf of Mexico. In 1900, Galveston was only about nine feet above sea level, which was a bit too low. When the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on September 8th, it brought a 15-foot tall storm surge, along with 135mph winds, making it a category 4 hurricane. The surge was so powerful that it washed over the entire island, knocking buildings off their foundations, and then pounding them into scraps of wood. In total, over 3600 houses were destroyed. The Galveston Hurricane is the deadliest natural disaster to ever hit the US, claiming over 6,000 lives. The total damages exceeded $20 million in 1900’s dollars, which is over $500 million in today’s dollars (inflation is no joke!).
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike is in the top three for most destructive hurricane’s to ever hit the United States, with $24 billion (2008 USD) and with additional damage of $7.3 billion in Cuba, $200 million in the Bahamas, and $500 million in the Turks and Caicos, amounting to a total of $32 billion in damages. Hurricane Ike resulted in at least 195 deaths, all the way from Haiti to Galveston and many places in between.
The Great Hurricane of 1780
Holding the record as the deadliest Atlantic hurricane, this storm devastated Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Lesser Antilles, Bermuda, and possibly Florida and other States. While the total damages are unknown, the death toll was well over 22,000 people, more than any other decade of Atlantic hurricanes.
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the only named hurricane for the 1992 season, but boy, did it make it’s mark. Wreaking havoc across the northwestern Bahamas, southern Florida and southwest Louisiana, Andrew caused $26.5 billion (USD 1992) in damage, though some sources place this number closer to $34 billion. Even with all the destruction caused by Hurricane Andrew, the death toll was very low, with 26 deaths caused directly by the hurricane and 39 as secondary deaths.
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was one of the top five deadliest and most expensive hurricanes in the history of the United States. At least 1,833 people died from the hurricane and the aftermath, and the estimated cost was at $81 billion (2005 USD). The hurricane began as a Category 1 hurricane in August 2005 when it hit the Bahamas and Florida, but strengthened to a Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico before landing in Louisiana as a Category 3. 80% of New Orleans was completely flooded, and stayed that way for weeks. Because of this, the largest diaspora in the history of the US occurred, with over one million people moving to other parts of the country. By January 2006, only 200,00 were living there, which was less than half of the pre-storm population. As of 2013, nearly 380,000 people are living in New Orleans.
BRUH