Florida residents have been told ‘stay and you’re gonna die’ as more than a million locals were forced to evacuate their homes due to Hurricane Milton – here are some of the deadliest ever hurricanes
More than one million people have been told to evacuate their homes as Hurricane Milton threatens to unleash devastation on the state of Florida.
The huge Category 5 tropical storm is expected to make landfall later today amid warnings that it could be one of the deadliest on record. This morning, Milton was swirling with ferocious maximum sustained winds of 160mph as it continued to move about 360 miles south-west of Tampa, with the centre of the storm having doubled in size over the last 24 hours.
One local mayor told residents who refuse to evacuate that they are “gonna die”, while the UK Foreign Office has warned that “no travel can be guaranteed safe at this time” for anyone travelling to Florida. But how does Milton compare to previous hurricanes that have hit the US and around the world? Here is a list of some of the worst recorded hurricanes in history:
Worst US hurricanes
Chenière Caminada hurricane – 2,000 dead
The Chenière Caminada hurricane completely destroyed Jefferson Parish in Louisiana when it tore through the rural community in October 1893. Ranked Category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson scale, the hurricane killed around 2,000 people, with around 1,100–1,400 of the deaths happening onshore, according to the US National Hurricane Center. Many ships were also wrecked in the storm, and the strong winds lay ruin to buildings and crops in the area.
Hurricane Katrina – 1,800 dead
One of the most infamous hurricanes in history, Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005 – and many say the city still hasn’t fully recovered more than 19 years on. Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were also hit.
The more than $160billion worth of destruction largely came from huge floods caused by storm surges and failures of levees in the New Orleans area, causing the poorer eastern side of the city to become completely inundated with water. President George W Bush’s administration was strongly criticised for its lack of support before and during the aftermath of the storm, with some people dying of thirst days after the storm had passed because they were stranded on the roofs of their homes. Today, the population of New Orleans is still around 19% below its level in 2000, and many poorer residents have not yet financially recovered from the impact of Katrina on their homes and communities.
Okeechobee hurricane – 2,500 dead
The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928 wreaked havoc on the US territory of Puerto Rico and many southern states. In Florida, a large lake surge of six to nine feet destroyed homes and left large parts of the countryside underwater, causing 1,836 of the total deaths.
Hurricane Maria – 2,700 dead
Initially, the US government named the death toll from Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in 2017, as just 63. But a study by George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health later revised this up to 2,700, finding that excess mortality rates had not been taken into account when understanding the impact of the storm.
The Great Galveston Hurricane – 8,000 to 12,000 dead
It’s estimated that between 8,000 and 12,000 died in the Great Galveston Hurricane of September 1900, which reduced almost all of the city of Galveston, Texas to rubble. It remains the deadliest natural disaster in United States history.
Worst hurricane in history
Great Hurricane of 1780 – 22,000 dead
This hurricane – the deadliest Atlantic storm on record – killed as many as 22,000 people when it struck the southern Caribbean in October 1780. Multiple islands were affected and a total of 15 Royal Navy ships were sunk in the storm, including the HMS Blanche, which disappeared without a trace.
