Katrina Named Most Destructive U.S. Storm Ever
Posted on September 15, 2005
ABC News reports that Hurricane Katrina has been named the most destructive U.S. storm ever by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Katrina was unusual not only for its powerful winds and low minimum central pressure but it was also a very large hurricane with hurricane force winds extending out for 120 miles.
Katrina's sustained winds reached 175 mph and its minimum central pressure dropped as low as 902 millibars the fourth lowest on record for an Atlantic hurricane, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported.According to the ABC News article damage estimates for Katrina are as high as $120 billion for the economic impact and $60 billion for the cost to insurers. This far surpasses the damage from Hurricane Andrew which cost $21 billion. Until Katrina hit Andrew was the costliest U.S. hurricane on record.The storm weakened slightly before it reached landfall and had less powerful winds than Hurricane Camille, which devastated coastal Mississippi in August, 1969.
But the size of Katrina, with hurricane force winds extending 120 miles from its center, was much larger and the destruction more widespread than Camille.
The central pressure in a hurricane is a good indicator of the strength of the winds of the storm. The strongest observed hurricane in the Atlantic basin was Gilbert in 1988 with a pressure of 888 millibars in the northwest Caribbean. Normal average sea level air pressure is 1,016 millibars.
