How Hurricane Maria stacks up against other deadly, destructive storms

KGO logo
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Devastating hurricanes in U.S. history
Devastating hurricanes in U.S. historyFrom Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Andrew to Hurricane Harvey, these storms will go down in history.

A new report found that Hurricane Maria killed nearly 3,000 people in Puerto Rico, making it one of the deadliest in the nation's history.

With so many ways to measure a hurricane -- from sustained wind speeds, to total cost to lives lost -- it can be hard to quantify what makes a hurricane historic. In 2017, FiveThirtyEight examined some of the costliest, deadliest modern tropical storms, putting together a list of tropical storms that have caused at least $1 billion damage since 1980.

The updated numbers for Maria make it deadlier than any on the list.

Here's a look at how Maria stacks up against the 10 deadliest of those storms.

Maria

Date: Sept. 20, 2017

Estimated Damage: $140 billion

Estimated Deaths: 2,975

Katrina

Date: Aug. 25, 2005

Estimated Damage: $160 billion

Estimated Deaths: 1,833

Sandy

Date: Oct. 30, 2012

Estimated Damage: $70.2 billion

Estimated Deaths: 159

Rita

Date: Sept. 20, 2005

Estimated Damage: $23.7 billion

Estimated Deaths: 119

Ike

Date: Sept. 12, 2008

Estimated Damage: $34.8 billion

Estimated Deaths: 112

Hugo

Date: Sept. 21, 1989

Estimated Damage: $18.2 billion

Estimated Deaths: 86

Floyd

Date: Sept. 14, 1999

Estimated Damage: $9.7 billion

Estimated Deaths: 77

Harvey

Date: Aug. 25, 2017

Estimated Damage: Could be as much as $180 billion

Estimated Deaths: At least 70

Juan

Date: Oct. 27, 1985

Estimated Damage: $3.5 billion

Estimated Deaths: 63

Andrew

Date: Aug. 23, 1992

Estimated Damage: $47.8 billion

Estimated Deaths: 61

Ivan

Date: Sept. 12, 2004

Estimated Damage: $27.1 billion

Estimated Deaths: 57

Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.