The Worst Hurricanes in the History of the South

The Worst Hurricanes in the History of the South

It’s safe to say that we fear a lot of things in the South. The South has many dangers: temperatures that will bake cookies without an oven, a wide range of wild animals (bobcats, gators, and black bears, oh my!), and groups of mosquitoes big enough to carry you off. But another well-known danger is the ever so dreaded hurricane season…

Hurricane season lasts from June 1st to November 30th.

For those of you who have never experienced a hurricane and are not exactly sure what a hurricane is, here’s a little helpful FYI. A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that forms in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Hurricanes can have wind speeds of 72mph or higher. Once a hurricane is announced, the people of the South go into a frenzy. The shelves in grocery stores are bare of canned goods, bottled water, bread, batteries, and miscellaneous hurricane equipment such as lanterns and crank radios. Some people will purchase generators for their homes because hurricanes have been known to cause power outages for days and sometimes even weeks. People in low and well known flooding areas will purchase sand bags for their doors, and most everyone will tape or board up their windows in case of shattered glass. Hurricanes can be very nerve-wracking and devastating. And afterwards, they can also be expensive and fatal…

Two of the worst hurricanes in history both date back to the year 1893:

The Cheniere Caminada Hurricane in Louisiana and the Sea Islands Hurricane in Georgia and South Carolina.

The Cheniere Caminada Hurricane was a Category 4 that devastated a large area from New Orleans, Louisiana to Mobile, Alabama. There were close to 1,400 deaths. The Sea Islands Hurricane was a Category 3 hurricane that destroyed almost every single building and barrier in its path. It claimed an estimated one to two thousand lives. Another devastating hurricane was the Galveston, Texas Hurricane in 1900. Although it is unclear of exactly how many deaths occurred during this Category 4 hurricane, it is estimated anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000. In the 1928 Southeast Florida/Lake Okeechobee Hurricane, roughly 2,500 people were killed. The majority of the deaths from this storm were caused from drowning in the storm surge, which caused Lake Okeechobee’s water to rise and put the entire surrounding area under about 10 to 15 feet of water! Last but not least is the well-known Hurricane Katrina, being one of the most intense and destructive hurricanes that hit the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coasts in 2005. Even though Hurricane Katrina had weakened and downgraded to a Category 3 before landfall, it still claimed a total of 1,200 lives. It was a very large and intense storm; it caused a huge storm surge which affected even the northern part of these states. This storm put 80% of New Orleans under water about 20 feet deep. Katrina was also one of the most devastating and expensive hurricanes, costing around $108 billion! There are places located all over the Gulf Cost that are still recovering from the damage and destruction of Hurricane Katrina.