I hate to ask this BUT..

[Josephine96]

Once the numbers for damages are in.. Is it possible our new top 3 will be..

1. Katrina {2005} 2. Rita {2005} 3. Andrew {1992}

The damage Rita will do to Houston, Galveston, Western LA, and maybe even New Orleans with the rain and small surge will be catastrophic here..

I can't believe in less than a month we have had 2 bonafied cat 4/5 storms in the Gulf of Mexico.

[JenyEliza]

I suspect it will be (1) Rita (2005) (2) Katrina (2005) and (3) Andrew (1992)

In terms of loss of life, I don't think anything will rival Galveston 1900--at least not any time soon.

Jen

[scostorms]

I just can't believe an R named storm could be #1 or #2. It is absolutely amazing...

[HURAKAN]

It's incredible that even without Rita this has been the most destructible hurricane season in United States history. We need El Nino next year.

[Josephine96]

It's been 1 hell of a season and we still have about 9 weeks or so to go..

[huricanwatcher]

YEP ... Rita going to lead the pack ... hoping so bad it wont become true.. BUT reality sets in.. and shes MEAN!!!

[milankovitch]

If it hit's Galveston head on especially if it hits just west as a four, topping Andrew's damage seems probable.

[AL Chili Pepper]

If Rita goes just west of Galveston/Houston at Cat4:

1. Rita
2. Katrina
3. Andrew

If she goes east:

1. Katrina
2. Andrew

[NetZeroZeus]

It's incredible that even without Rita this has been the most destructible hurricane season in United States history. We need El Nino next year.

Hmm....as I was reading these old posts, I came across this one and found it humorous, the last sentence, looks like your wish came true, and well deserved I might add.

[Jim Cantore]

Actual top ten

1. Katrina
2. Andrew
3. Wilma
4. Charley
5. Ivan
6. Rita
7. Frances
8. Hugo
9. Jeanne
10. Allison

[JonathanBelles]

i didnt realize that rita did more damage than katrina

[Jim Cantore]

i didnt realize that rita did more damage than katrina

The date of the original post was 9/22/05, When Rita was seemingly bound for Houston/Galveston.

[JonathanBelles]

ooo i didnt look at that.

[Deputy Van Halen]

Actual top ten

1. Katrina
2. Andrew
3. Wilma
4. Charley
5. Ivan
6. Rita
7. Frances
8. Hugo
9. Jeanne
10. Allison

Does this ranking only consider DIRECT damages by the storm? I bet Rita would move up the list quite a bit if you factor in the costs related to evacuation, especially the opportunity costs of time lost.

Also, I'm sure the list is skewed by such factors as the value of real estate. Wilma, Charley, Frances and Jeanne all hit Florida and damaged or destroyed expensive real estate whose value was inflated by the housing bubble. That's why they rank in the Top 10 instead of other disastrous storms such as Camille, Frederic, and Betsy.

[Opal storm]

Actual top ten

1. Katrina
2. Andrew
3. Wilma
4. Charley
5. Ivan
6. Rita
7. Frances
8. Hugo
9. Jeanne
10. Allison

Does this ranking only consider DIRECT damages by the storm? I bet Rita would move up the list quite a bit if you factor in the costs related to evacuation, especially the opportunity costs of time lost.

Also, I'm sure the list is skewed by such factors as the value of real estate. Wilma, Charley, Frances and Jeanne all hit Florida and damaged or destroyed expensive real estate whose value was inflated by the housing bubble. That's why they rank in the Top 10 instead of other disastrous storms such as Camille, Frederic, and Betsy.

Just becuase they hit a area with expensive real estate doesn't mean they weren't capable of being extremely costly anywhere else.I bet had they made landfall anywhere else along the U.S coastline they still would've cracked the top 10.IMO,they may have been even more costly along the central Gulf coast since this area usually has a greater storm surge than South Florida.

[Cyclenall]

It's incredible that even without Rita this has been the most destructible hurricane season in United States history. We need El Nino next year.

And you got your El Nino. However, I'm not saying for sure we are in a El Nino since we haven't met the definition of one yet (3 months).

[bob rulz]

It's incredible that even without Rita this has been the most destructible hurricane season in United States history. We need El Nino next year.

And you got your El Nino. However, I'm not saying for sure we are in a El Nino since we haven't met the definition of one yet (3 months).

Well, it's at 2 months with September being warmer than August.

[mitchell]

Actual top ten

1. Katrina
2. Andrew
3. Wilma
4. Charley
5. Ivan
6. Rita
7. Frances
8. Hugo
9. Jeanne
10. Allison

Does this ranking only consider DIRECT damages by the storm? I bet Rita would move up the list quite a bit if you factor in the costs related to evacuation, especially the opportunity costs of time lost.

I can't even imaging trying to quantify the secondary/opportunity costs associated with time and productivity lost associated with Katrina and the gaming industry in Mississippi and the loss of economic activity in New Orleans

[Derek Ortt]

it was nto so much the housing cost that caused Wilma to be so destructive. Most everywhere has very expensive beach front real-estate, which was not significantly impacted in Wilma as the surge hit crocigators and crocigators only.

It was the fact that about 10 million people experienced Wilma that caused it to be #3. Hitting the center of a major American city is the quickest way to have a high damage total