Hurricanes in the early twentieth century, and before, were not nearly as well documented as they are today, and the population centers were much smaller, and more spread out.Where's your source Espola:
Let's see...Spola cites :
1. Katrina ( 2005 )
2. Ike ( 2008 )
3. Sandy ( 2012 )
What I found :
The 10 Worst Hurricanes in American History
Aug 18 2014 05:37 PM EDT
weather.com
1. Hurricane Katrina, 2005
Hurricane Katrina, like Andrew 13 years earlier, struck both Florida and the central Gulf Coast as a damaging hurricane. But unlike Andrew, Katrina's greatest fury was reserved for its second landfall, and its most catastrophic impacts were from storm surge rather than wind.
Katrina delivered a billion-dollar blow to South Florida as a rapidly intensifying Category 1 hurricane. But after it emerged into the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina strengthened into a monster.
At one point, Katrina's central pressure dropped to 902 millibars, the lowest pressure observed in an Atlantic basin hurricane since Gilbert in 1988. Katrina was also a large hurricane, guaranteeing a devastating storm surge as it approached the north-central Gulf coast.
Katrina made its first landfall near Buras, Louisiana, with a pressure of 920 millibars. It remains the lowest pressure on record for a Category 3 landfall; Instead of a focused core of powerful winds, Katrina's energy was distributed by a larger area of strong, but not as extreme, winds.
The large field of strong onshore winds pushed catastrophic storm surge into the Mississippi Gulf Coast, peaking at an estimated 28 feet around Waveland and Pass Christian, the highest surge on record in the U.S. The surge penetrated six miles inland across most of South Mississippi, and up to 12 miles inland along bays and rivers. Over 200 people lost their lives in Mississippi, mostly due to the surge.
Water also pushed west into Lake Ponchartrain, leading to a storm surge of 10 to 19 feet. Water also surged into the network of canals and channels around New Orleans, and the subsequent overtopping and breaching of levees and floodwalls eventually combined to flood 80 percent of New Orleans; it would take six weeks to remove all the water from the city. Katrina claimed 1,577 lives in Louisiana.
2. 1900 Galveston Hurricane
The deadliest hurricane in U.S. history hit the Upper Texas coast in 1900. It began as a tropical storm in the central Atlantic and followed a path south of Hispaniola. As it moved over Cuba, it remained a tropical storm. It rapidly intensified and reached hurricane status as it passed just west of Key West, Florida.
The hurricane made an abrupt turn to the west in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. As the hurricane approached, the winds grew fierce and the tide rose quickly. Wind gusts of over 120 miles per hour pierced Galveston Island and the seas rose to over 20 feet in height.
The Galveston hurricane was a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. An estimated 8,000 to 12,000 people lost their lives, mostly in the Galveston area. More than 3,000 homes were destroyed and damage was estimated at over $30 million.
The storm maintained tropical storm strength as it tracked up through Oklahoma and Kansas. It then weakened and moved through the Great Lakes, over the St. Lawrence River and back out over the North Atlantic Ocean.
3. 1926 Miami Hurricane
The eye of the hurricane passed over downtown Miami and parts of Coconut Grove and South Miami early Sept. 18, 1926. Residents of the city, unfamiliar with hurricanes, thought the storm was over and emerged from their places of refuge out into the city streets. The lull lasted only about 35 minutes, according to the NOAA. The worst part of the hurricane brought 10-foot storm surge onto Miami Beach.
As the hurricane moved inland, water from Lake Okeechobee was blown toward the southwest shore and the town of Moore Haven. A weakened muck dike that had been constructed to protect Moore Haven broke in several places. About 150 people drowned in the floodwaters that persisted in Moore Haven for weeks afterward.
The Red Cross reported that 372 people died in the storm. Damages in 1926 dollars were estimated at $105 million, which would be more than $100 billion in today's dollars.
It's amazing what a little research can do for you.....
I dont see how anyone can accurately rank them .
Today, the trend is to believe that everything is worse because chicken littles rule the roost.
