The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the deadliest natural disaster in US history – killing between 6,000 – 12,000 people in Texas. It destroyed over 7,000 buildings and left over 10,000 people homeless.
The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 destroyed a large portions of South Florida and killed at least 373 people. Pictured here is the destruction on Collins Avenue, Miami Beach. The storm effectively ended the Roaring 1920s in Florida, causing approximately $90 billion in damages.
Sometimes called the “Long Island Express,” the New England Hurricane of 1938 rushed over New York to hit Connecticut and Boston with 12-foot storm surges. An estimated 600 people died in the storm.
A particularly deadly and long lasting storm, Hurricane Hazel in 1954 killed between 400 – 1000 people in Haiti. It caused at least 95 deaths in the U.S. after it first hit Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As it moved northward, Hazel became an extratropical storm where it killed another 100 people in Canada.
Hurricane Donna ravaged the eastern seaboard in 1960, killing 50 people in the continental U.S. and another 107 in Puerto Rico. Donna is the only Hurricane on record to hit Florida, the Mid-Atlantic, and New England with hurricane-force winds.
Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was one of the most destructive in U.S. history. The storm caused an estimated $30 billion in damage. Andrew also spawned at least 28 tornados along the Gulf Coast. Nearly 126,000 homes were destroyed and 180,000 people were left homeless.
One of the deadliest storms in U.S. history, Hurricane Katrina killed at least 1,833 people. It is also currently tied with Hurricane Harvey as the costliest storm in US history – causing an estimated $125 billion in damage. Katrina caused a massive humanitarian crisis as an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people took shelter in New Orleans’ Louisiana Superdome.
Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record when measured by diameter. Sandy caused an estimated $70 billion in damage across 24 different states, including the entire eastern seaboard. A total of 157 Americans died during the storm.
Hurricane Harvey in 2017 flooded the streets of downtown Houston. Harvey was the wettest storm on record – dropping over 60 inches of rainwater on southeast Texas. The storm reportedly displaced over 30,000 people in Texas and killed 68.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years. It devastated the island’s power grid and caused the worst blackout in U.S. history. Maria killed almost 3,000 people on Puerto Rico alone.
