Hurricane History

Hurricanes are deeply woven into American history

Since the Colonial Era, hurricane impacts have shaped our cities, influenced our architecture, driven population trends, and burrowed deep into our collective consciousness.

Walk down Main Street in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and you can see for yourself. Every historical plaque mentions two years — 1969 and 2005 — when cataclysmic hurricanes inflicted jaw-dropping destruction followed by rebirth and transformation.

Here are some things you maybe didn’t know

How many hurricanes?

Over 300 hurricanes have made landfall on the mainland U.S. coastline — from Texas to Florida to Maine — since 1851 (when reliable records start).

Most powerful

Category 5 hurricane impacts are extremely unusual. Since 1851, only four have stricken the mainland U.S.:

  • Labor Day Storm – Florida Keys (1935)
  • Hurricane Camille – Louisiana & Mississippi (1969)
  • Hurricane Andrew – SE Florida (1992)
  • Hurricane Michael – Florida Panhandle (2018)

Deadliest

The deadliest natural disaster in American history: the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. A large Category 4 storm devastated this major Texas port city, killing an estimated 8,000 — but possibly as many as 12,000 — people.

Costliest

The costliest natural disaster in American history: Hurricane Katrina of 2005, which inflicted $186 billion of damage (in 2022 dollars), mostly in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Shaping cities

Indianola, Texas, was a thriving Texas port city in the 1800s. A powerful hurricane damaged Indianola in 1875, then a second one obliterated the port in 1886. This enabled Galveston to become Texas’s main port and set up Houston for a later boom. If these hurricanes hadn’t destroyed Indianola, it’s possible the fourth-largest American city today would be Victoria, Texas — not Houston.

Florida’s cruel honor

Florida is America’s hurricane capital — and the state has endured some especially brutal phases. In the short period from 1945 to 1950, five Category 4 hurricanes smashed the state. And Florida got hit by eight hurricanes in just 15 months — from July 2004 to October 2005!

Even up north

Intense hurricanes in the Northeast U.S. are unusual, but they do happen — sometimes with devastating results. In 1938 a powerful Category 3 — nicknamed the “Long Island Express” because of how fast it shot up the East Coast — smashed New York and New England. There was massive destruction across a wide, densely-populated region, and hundreds died.

In the face of these impacts, the resiliency of America’s coastal communities never ceases to amaze. From Port Isabel, Texas, to Miami, Florida, to Eastport, Maine, we get knocked down, we brush ourselves off, we learn our lessons, and we rebuild smarter and better.