Deadliest hurricanes to strike US including ‘Great’ Galveston that ‘killed 12,000’ after Ida hit on Katrina anniversary
HURRICANE Ida hit Louisiana 16 years to the date that Hurricane Katrina killed 1,800 people and devastated New Orleans in August 2005.
But while the devastation was evident, was not America's deadliest hurricane as up to 12,000 people were killed in 1900 when the storm dubbed "Great" Galveston battered the US.
The Sun takes a look back at some of America's deadliest hurricanes.
'GREAT' GALVESTON – 1900
More than a century after it made landfall, “Great" Galveston remains the deadliest hurricane ever to hit the US.
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimate that up to 12,000 people were killed but the exact figure remains unknown.
The Category 4 storm hit Galveston, an island city located off the Texas coast, on September 8, 1900.
Ferocious winds produced a 15-foot high storm surge as it battered communities, according to .
Around 7,000 buildings were destroyed, including more than 3,500 homes.
And, around 10,000 were left homeless – almost a quarter of the city’s population at the time.
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In 1900, there was not the advanced warning equipment that experts use now to track tropical storms.
Texans were not prepared for the storm so did not know how devastating it would turn out to be.
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Forecasters at the Weather Bureau expected the storm to pass over and head towards New England.
Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: “They were just way off target.”
In 1900, the Weather Bureau was just 10 years old so hurricane science in the US was quite limited.
While American science was quite poor, Cuban scientists had become familiar with tracking tropical storms over the Caribbean.
It’s reported that they knew the storm was going to head towards the Gulf of Mexico.
Fatalities were recorded in , , , , Massachusetts, and Missouri as widespread flooding hit.
In 1900, the total damage came to the cost of $35.4million which is over a billion dollars in today's currency.
HURRICANE OKEECHOBEE – 1928
Storm Okeechobee made landfall in Palm Beach County, Florida, on September 16 1928 as a Category 4 storm.
It's thought that the storm reached maximum wind speeds of 150mph.
A captain near Cape Verde – off the coast of Africa – first reported the storm on a radio call before it headed towards the Caribbean and the US.
Okeechobee wreaked havoc through the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Leeward Islands, and Puerto Rico.
In Puerto Rico, more than 200,000 were left homeless as the storm destroyed buildings lying in its path, reports.
Researchers estimate that more than 1,500 people were killed in the Caribbean.
The monster storm slammed into Florida on September 16, 1928, as wind speeds reached 150mph.
Headlines such as “Florida Destroyed” were splashed on the front pages of local newspapers as streets were “shoulder-deep” in debris.
Cities such as Jupiter, Delray, Lake Worth, and Palm Beach were devastated by a 10-foot high storm surge.
Around 8,000 buildings in West Palm Beach alone were either completely wiped out or devastated.
The monster hurricane worsened as at least 2,300 people were killed in South Florida alone.
Hundreds of victims were buried at a pauper cemetery in West Palm Beach as many bodies were washed into the everglades, according to .
Officials built the Hoover Dike, which stands at 30 feet high, around Lake Okeechobee following the deadly hurricane and floods.
MIAMI HURRICANE – 1926
The 1926 hurricane killed 372 people and the cost of the damage came close to $100billion.
The storm came at a time when the population of Miami exploded during the "Roaring Twenties."
Warnings were issued but most residents in the city were reluctant to listen to the advice.
Some erected barriers and boarded up their windows while others tried to ride the storm out.
The Category 4 storm saw winds of 150mph as gusts tore off roofs from buildings and cut off electricity, reports.
Journalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas said at the time: “Miami Beach was isolated in a sea of raving white water.”
Miami Beach was isolated in a sea of raving white water."
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
The lobbies of hotels on Miami Beach were covered in sand while ships in the Miami River were left twisted by the disastrous hurricane.
It’s estimated that between 25,000 to 47,000 people were left homeless following the disaster.
Tycoons in Miami Beach tried to rebuild their hotel empires that were severely affected after the storm.
There was a smaller hurricane in the October of the same year – stalling progress slightly – but it came just years before the devastating Wall Street Crash in 1929.
HURRICANE KATRINA – 2005
Hurricane Ida touched down on Louisiana on August 29 – the same date that Katrina did in 2005.
Katrina struck Louisiana as a Category 3 storm with 127mph winds that spread 98 miles from the center when it made landfall.
It was a “huge storm” with a “very expansive” wind field compared to an average storm, hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy told .
She produced a record storm surge of about 24 to 28 feet along the Mississippi coast.
Katrina pushed the dam system in to failure, flooding about 80 percent of the city.
The storm was blamed for 1,800 deaths as it caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans.
It left thousands who had not evacuated the city stranded with little access to food, shelter, or other basic necessities.
The 2005 storm caused $125billion worth of damages in New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina was the largest and 3rd strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in the .
HURRICANE IDA – 2021
Hurricane Ida has since been downgraded into a tropical storm since it made landfall in Louisiana on August 29.
declared a “major disaster” in the state as meteorologists branded the hurricane as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm.
The White House is said to be “planning for the worst” as the impacts of become clearer over the coming days and weeks.
The storm so far has killed two people but thousands of residents in are facing three weeks without electricity.
LaToya Cantrell, the mayor of New Orleans, announced that the death toll from the storm has officially risen to two after a driver drowned in their vehicle.
On Sunday, a 60-year-old man died when a tree fell on a home just outside Baton Rouge.
Authorities have not released any information about the identities of the victims.
It has also sparked a looting crisis as crowds were caught sprinting in and out of stores with arms of stolen goods.
Cops in the city have deployed anti-looting teams in a bid to stop criminals from destroying local businesses.
Energy suppliers have warned that power will be out for at least three weeks as utility crews work to restore more than 2,000 miles of downed energy lines across the state.
Blackouts hit the state on Sunday as some doctors were forced to ventilate patients by hand as electricity supplies went down.
Ida struck as intensive care units in hospitals across Louisiana are packed with patients.
The delta variant has ripped through the state as there are more than 2,400 Covid patients in hospitals in Louisiana.
The total economic damage caused by Ida is expected to fall in the region of $70-80billion.
Louisiana is not the only state to be affected by the strong gusts and torrential downpours of Storm Ida.
Storm surges breached seawalls in Bay St Louis while flash flooding in saw both lanes of a highway collapse.
At least two people are dead and ten injured after the incident in Lucedale on Monday.
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The flooding caused a 20-foot-deep hole to open up in the highway, according to CNN.
Highway Patrol trooper Cal Robertson said: "I've never seen anything in my 23 years in law enforcement like this."
