Is This the Worst Hurricane Season Ever? Here ’s How it Compares

Hurricane season won’t end until Nov. 30, but four major hurricanes — Category 3 or greater — have already churned through the Atlantic. And meteorologists say more are likely on the way, raising a question of how this hurricane season compares to past years. For an answer, we turned to the National Hurricane Center, which began tracking damage caused by hurricanes in 1900. The figures only reflect fatalities and damage for the mainland U.S., so the following tables don’t capture the full extent of the destruction caused by this year’s storms. Which hurricane seasons were deadliest for the U.S.? Hurricane forecasting has vastly improved in the past century, saving countless lives each year. But Harvey and Irma still left a total of 103 people dead in the U.S., making 2017 the 17th deadliest hurricane season since 1900. The deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history is also the most fatal hurricane to date. In 1900, inaccurate predictions, combined with poor warning systems, left Galveston, Texas vulnerable to a hurricane that killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. Twenty-eight years later, an estimated 2,500 people drowned when a Category 4 hurricane caused Lake Okeechobee in Florida to overflow, deluging the surrounding area with 10-to-15-foot floods. The 10 deadliest hurricane seasons include only one from within the past 50 years: 2005, when Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the levees in New Orleans and inundated the city, killing more than 1,0...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized hurricane harvey hurricane irma Hurricanes interactive studio weather Source Type: news