Date added: Wednesday August 1,
2007: 9am ET
HurricaneNow.com Deadliest Hurricanes
Since The 1960s (US Mainland Deaths)
By HurricaneNow.com
Chief Correspondent Jeff Flock
First HurricaneNow List puts Katrina,
More Recent Storms, in Perspective
While we specialize in reporting
live pictures and sound from hurricanes the "now"
part of our mission also makes us focus more on the "now"
of where we are in the cyclical trends of weather and tropical
activity. The experts seem to agree we are in an active
period, last year notwithstanding. We're compiling and
releasing a new set of hurricane records which focus on more
recent history as a means of putting some of the storms many
of us have experienced in a new perspective. The hybrid
lists differ from the National Hurricane Center's "all-time"
records.
First List: "Deadliest Hurricanes
Since the 60's"
Our first focus is on the most serious
of impact of storms: loss of life. The listing is of
the most deadly storms since the 60's. Over the course
of this hurricane season we'll roll out rundowns of the most
costly storms of recent memory, the the most intense, most
damaging and several "Top Ten in the Last Ten" listings
of record hurricane activity over the past decade. The
lists will include exclusive HurricaneNow analysis.
| Rank |
Storm |
Year |
Category |
Deaths |
| 1. |
Katrina |
2005 |
3 |
1836 |
| 2. |
Camille |
1969 |
5 |
256 |
| 3. |
Agnes |
1972 |
1 |
122 |
| 4. |
Betsy |
1965 |
3 |
75 |
| 5. |
Floyd |
1999 |
2 |
56 |
| 6. |
Donna |
1960 |
5 |
50 |
| 7. |
Carla |
1961 |
4 |
46 |
| 8. |
Allison |
2001 |
TS |
41 |
| 9. |
Hilda |
1964 |
3 |
38 |
| 10. |
Hugo |
1989 |
4 |
35 |
| 11. |
Fran |
1996 |
3 |
38 |
| 12. |
Alberto |
1994 |
TS |
30 |
| 13. |
Ivan |
2004 |
3 |
25 |
HurricaneNOW Analysis:
Only one storm since the 60s has
made the all-time list of deadliest hurricanes. But Katrina
occupies a fairly prominent position at number 3 after the
Galveston(1900) and Lake Okechobee(1928) hurricanes. It
s interesting to note that two of the storms that killed the
most people since the 60s have not even made it to hurricane
status: tropical storms Allison in 2001 and Alberto in 1994.
Camille, which is the most intense hurricane ever to strike
the US, took a course similar to Katrina s but in 1969 there
were far fewer residents in its path. Agnes was a rare
June hurricane in 1972 and, despite relative low Category
one intensity, came through the Gulf and across Florida and
then up the entire eastern seaboard. It was the most
damaging hurricane on record until Hugo in 1989 which wreaked
more structural havoc but killed only 35. The list also
features hurricane Carla, the Cat 4 monster that long-time
CBS anchor Dan Rather made a name for himself covering. Perhaps
the most telling feature of this list: Of the 12 storms, 9
came through the Gulf of Mexico rather than across the Atlantic.
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