Mentions: Tip, Andrew, & Sandy
Typhoon Tip wasn’t the deadliest or costliest tropical cyclone, but owing to its massive size and power, it deserves an honorable mention. This category 5 typhoon was absolutely massive at its peak, stretching nearly 1,400 miles in diameter. To put that into perspective, the storm would have stretched from New York City to Houston, engulfing everything in between.
The storm weakened as it trekked across the Pacific and approached Japan. Making landfall in southern Japan, the storm caused massive flooding and indirectly led to a fire that caused the deaths of 13 American marines at Camp Fuji. Numerous other people were killed while at sea and in total 99 people died.
Hurricane Sandy was far from the strongest hurricane to hit American shores. Yet, damage and casualties often depend less on the strength of the hurricane and more on where it lands and how prepared people are. What makes Hurricane Sandy so unique is that it struck New York City and New Jersey, an area well north of where hurricanes typically make landfall.
This region was woefully unprepared for a storm of Sandy’s magnitude. Low lying areas and subway tunnels were flooded. Other areas were also heavily affected, including the mid-Atlantic and Appalachian mountains. In total, 24 different states were affected by the storm. Ultimately, nearly $75 billion dollars in damage was caused, primarily in the United States.
One of the more infamous storms, Hurricane Andrew, caused over $26 billion dollars in damage back in 1992. Andrew is one of only a few hurricanes to ever make landfall as a category 5 hurricane. Entire city blocks in South Florida were leveled by winds as high as 165 miles per hour. Across Florida, over 60,000 homes were completely destroyed and roughly 175,000 people were left homeless.
Andrew didn’t just affect Florida, however. Like Katrina, Andrew made its way into the Gulf of Mexico, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to oil wells. The storm also hit Louisiana, although was greatly weakened by that point. Regardless, it caused flooding and over a billion dollars in damage.
One thing’s for certain. More names will be added to this list in the future. Indeed, Hurricane Matthew killed over a 1,000 people in Haiti and across the Caribbean and United States. Luckily ample warning time and evacuation efforts reduced casualties.