Top 10 worse places in the US if a major hurricane hits

[cycloneye]

http://info.insure.com/home/disaster/wo ... icane.html

Interesting information about those places and hopefully no major cane goes to those areas or any other place not only in the US but anywhere in the world.IMO I would put New Orleans on the top of the list due to the below sea level it is.

[TampaFl]

Thanks for the link Cycloneye. I agree with you that New Orleans should rank #1, and Tampa should be #2 though being ranked #3 is no great comfort either . If we take a direct here in the Tampa Bay area it will be a total disaster that most people cannot begin to comprehend. Our luck is going to end one day and it will be a real eye opener to say the least . Thanks again for the link.

Robert

[Brent]

A Cat 4 or 5 that puts the Florida Keys in the Right-front quadrant would not be fun. In fact, the islands would probably be under water.

New Orleans and Tampa are also nightmares.

According to Landsea, the worst-case "triple-whammy scenario" would be one in which a Category 5 hurricane crashes directly into Miami, veers off, and then slams into New Orleans, causing severe flooding all along the Gulf Coast before losing its punch. If this scenario were to occur, there's a real possibility the United States could suffer two $100 billion losses at once.

[Guest]

If you notice the locations and the city's, this is primarily based on population, and location. The chances of a major hurricane affecting Southeast Florida are greater then New York, but the population is greater, whereas New Orleans has less population based upon square mile.
All of these factors and more are taken into consideration.
I have placed a call to see if possibly I could get Dr. Landsea on a show to discuss these and other questions.

[stormcrow]

The possibility of New Orleans becoming an inland sea or the difficulties of moving millions out of harms way in Florida rank the major cities very high. But if a Cat 3 or higher comes up the Hudson, the shear numbers of people in harms way and the likelyhood of disbief until to late should make New York #1 danger spot for lifes at risk. The overall poor construction in Houston makes that area #1 for damage. Just my thoughts.

[wxman57]

That web site really only looks at the DOLLAR amounts, not the potential loss of life. While there may be a lot of people up in the New York area, major hurricane landfalls north of 35N are exceedingly rare. But major landfalls along the Gulf coast are not rare at all. I would think that New Orleans would be first on the list. With over a million people in the city, latest estimates are that MAYBE as high as 60-70% could be evacuated before the city goes under. That leaves nearly 300,000 in the city with 20+ feet of water. Estimates are that at least 1/4 of them would drown. That's a tremendous loss of life potential for the city.

I also suspect the dollar amounts for damage to New Orleans are way too low. Consider the city filled with water for MONTHS after a major hurricane. Until the levees can be rebuilt, the pumps replaced, and the water pumped out, the city would not be inhabitable. And once the water is pumped out a few months after the storm, each and every building would have to be inspected before power can be restored. Not to mention the health risks of perhaps 70,000-80,000 bodies to be removed.

I don't think any other city can match the devastation potential of New Orleans in terms of chances of a major hurricane hit and potential lives lost. New Orleans is high in both areas.

[MGC]

WXMAN57 hit the nail on the head. This list is just the risk of potential losses to the insurance companies, not the individual. I'd much rather ride out a cat 4 in NYC than New Orleans. I saw first hand what Hurricane Betsy did in New Orleans......MGC

[Rainband]

I will pass on the CAT4 at either of the two locations I see the point in the comment though.

[Derek Ortt]

I'm nto so sure that I'd perfer NYC over NO in a cat 4, if I had to make a choice of ridig out a storm in either of those two areas. While a 4 is unlikely in NYC, a NNW moving storm could maintain intensity almost up until landfall as the gulfstream is at roughly 38N and 73-72W, where Bob reached its peak intensity off of Deleware. If we got a Hazel like scenario where the storm was moving over 40 m.p.h., it could still be a 4 into NYC. Estimates are that JFK airport would be under more than 30 feet of water from a cat 4, mainly due to the fact that NYC was built on the bay. Plus, due to the amount of buildings, debris would just add to the damage. I know NO is bad, but I shudder to think of not only the dollar costs (yes, that 50 billion number is so far low that I will not even comment on it), but as well as the 10's of thousands caught on the roads in massive traffic jams in NYC, trying to flee. Not to mention those on LI, NJ and Conn that would also be affected

[Hurricanehink]

That is exactly right. For a couple of days before Isabel, when it was still a cat. 5 and it was forecasted to hit NC as a cat. 3, I was extremely worried. Some models brought the storm further northward towards NJ. Easily 50,000,000 people would have to be evacuated all across the northeast. Still, NO would be really bad, but so would NY.

[kevin]

>>That leaves nearly 300,000 in the city with 20+ feet of water. Estimates are that at least 1/4 of them would drown. That's a tremendous loss of life potential for the city. <<

That is unfathonable. Over a thousand people perishing in a hurricane is unthinkable to me for the United States. I hope the numbers are unfounded...

Otherwise its truly frightening, to voice an understatement.

[Josephine96]

I also agree about Tampa/St Pete.. the results would be catastrophic

[MGC]

JFK is built on marshes next to the bay and would be easily flooded. I wonder how all them yankees would handle a big hurricane headed their way. At least the folks down in south Louisiana have had lots of practice evacuating. Emagine trying to evacuating NYC? Still would rather ride it out in NYC though at least NYC is ABOVE sea level......MGC

[HURAKAN]

I'm surprised to see Miami and Fort Lauderdale in 1st place, I though NYC was 1st place.

[Josephine96]

I had a feeling the Miami area would have been pretty high on that list too..

[hurricanedude]

hmmmm....Interesting....Norfolk Va in the top 10....

[NorthGaWeather]

How about the Georgia coast. The barrier islands would be destroyed in a Cat 4 or 5 and Savannah would have some major problems.

[mf_dolphin]

This is one top ten list I would have rather not make. The explosion of growth here since the last real hurricane hit would find people totally unprepared. With the shallow gulf waters the surge here would be devastating. I've seen professional estimates that surge in the Tampa Bay area could be 1 1/2 times the listed storm surge for an East Coast strike.

[Rainband]

I agree Marshall

[Dean4Storms]

I disagree with this list. A Cat. 5 looming down on Jacksonville, FL at High Tide would be far more catastrophic than one hitting Biloxi, Mobile or Myrtle Bch. For one Jax. has never experienced one in recent times and secondly the St. Johns River snakes right through much of the city and downtown and the surge flooding would extend all the way down the St. Johns to west of the Daytona Bch. area. Much of the Arlington, Mandarin, San Jose and Orange Park areas which are extremely built out are right along the St. Johns and some half surrounded by the river. Most all of the drainage flows to tributaries which flow into the St. Johns. As a kid I can remember how extensive the street flooding would be in a heavy TStorm, especially at high tide as our street would flood all the way up to our front door. Jacksonville is also a fairly large shipping port which would be impacted. Count in all the new construction toward Sawgrass and northward along the coast toward Fernadina Bch. and the $$$ potential is astronomical!