What was the worst Hurricane in U.S history

[Jim Cantore]

after Katrina lets see how this pans out

[quandary]

I think only Katrina and the Galveston storm have any real shot at this. One was the big killer, the other a big killer, but a big damager. Anything else sortof lies betwen these two giants.

The 1926 storm might get a vote or two due to its potential damage. I really see that as bunk by the argument that, in the past, just about all conceiveable storms have happened, so whatever someone considered to be the max damage storm has probably occured (as a path/intensity thing) at some time. The "what ifs" aren't really a big deal IMHO.

[wxmann_91]

No doubt Galveston. 8,000 killed, you can't beat that.

[quandary]

Well... I still contend that it is a toss-up. 8000 people killed versus 1300 from Katrina, plus 400,000 displaced or so and more than 3 million directly affected and 80 billion dollars in damage. Depends on the "impact" you assign to lives lost. More of a personal question in that regard.

[Brent]

I'd have to give the edge to Katrina only because we have 24-hour news which brought us the pictures and suffering all the time, day and night, TV and Radio didn't exist in 1900.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Back in the day of the 1900 hurricane Katrina would of killed tens of thousands. But today we got warning. Katrina all the way.

[WindRunner]

Galveston, they didn't have any warning and got trapped on an island, and it's the deadliest hurricane ever in the US.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

If Katrina would not of weaken in went 20 miles to the west. Then we would be reading about 10s of thousons of people dead. It would be a sad day.

There was over 100k in new orleans alone that stayed.

[EDR1222]

Galveston, because of the number of people that were killed.

[cycloneye]

Also Galveston because of the number of deaths it caused.

[wxman57]

Can't answer unless you define "worst". Caused the greatest impact on the U.S. economy? Killed the most people? Had the strongest wind? Highest storm surge? What is worst?

[HURAKAN]

I can define "the worst" by how much damage it caused or how many lives it took, therefore, since I believe life is more important than money, Katrina steps down and the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 has my vote!

[Brent]

Can't answer unless you define "worst". Caused the greatest impact on the U.S. economy? Killed the most people? Had the strongest wind? Highest storm surge? What is worst?

Economy? Katrina. Deaths? Galveston. Strongest? Galveston*(though strong winds from Katrina affected a huge area), Storm surge? Katrina.

[cjrciadt]

Can't answer unless you define "worst". Caused the greatest impact on the U.S. economy? Killed the most people? Had the strongest wind? Highest storm surge? What is worst?

Economy? Katrina. Deaths? Galveston. Strongest? Galveston*(though strong winds from Katrina affected a huge area), Storm surge? Katrina.

Agree with this.

[Stratosphere747]

Galveston is nowhere near the "strongest" hurricane to hit the mainland US. It just happen to hit a densely populated barrier island.

Kind of a mute discussion though. "Worst" is any loss of life. Material things can be replaced and re-built, even as hard of a transition it may be.

Equating "Life vs. Property" gives you an idea how materialistic we are sometimes.

[f5]

worst can only be decided by the human imagination.we may disagree but imaganation is what it call comes down to

[wxmann_91]

Back in the day of the 1900 hurricane Katrina would of killed tens of thousands. But today we got warning. Katrina all the way.

Wrong. Back in 1900 New Orleans would've been very sparsely populated, and also remember that initally the city was built on the highest ground in the area (the French Quarter). Then the city expanded to the Lower 9th Ward and that's when the sinking problems began, worsening the situation.

One must recall that in 1900 much of Galveston Island (a barrier island must I remind you) was barely above sea level. Look at what Ivan did to Grand Cayman and that's what the 1900 storm did to Galveston. Look at damage pics of Galveston - everything was WIPED OUT.

[MiamiensisWx]

One very important point is being missed on Katrina. Katrina was not only a killer and economy destructor... it was also a political disaster. I am NOT pointing fingers at anyone or playing partisan politics or "The Blame Game"... I am just pointing out that nearly EVERYONE in leader positions spent too much time playing partisan politics and blaming (instead of just rebuilding the Gulf coast), resulting in a political disaster.

[wxmann_91]

One very important point is being missed on Katrina. Katrina was not only a killer and economy destructor... it was also a political disaster. I am NOT pointing fingers at anyone or playing partisan politics or "The Blame Game"... I am just pointing out that nearly EVERYONE in leader positions spent too much time playing partisan politics and blaming (instead of just rebuilding the Gulf coast), resulting in a political disaster.

Good point, I had forgotten about that. Exactly...half of Katrina was politics.

[MGC]

Lost lives is the measure of the worst hurricane. Material objects can be replaced. The tragedy of Katrina is that nearly all of the death were preventable....MGC