Hurricane Idalia hit Florida as a powerful Category 3 storm on Wednesday morning, bringing very high winds and large storm surge.
Idalia is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend region since 1950 -- and the strongest to make landfall in the region's Apalachee Bay since records began in 1851.
There are a few ways to rate the severity of a storm when trying to define the "worst" or "biggest" -- wind speed, lowest internal pressure and damage costs. In 2018, Hurricane Michael hit northwest Florida as the third most intense storm to ever reach the U.S. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the storm's pressure was 919 millibars.
Here are the 10 most intense hurricanes in U.S. history, as measured by central pressure, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the lower the pressure, the more intense the storm):
1. Florida (Keys) - 1935, 892 mb
2. Camille (Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia) - 1965, 900 mb
3. Michael (Florida) - 2018, 919 mb
4. Katrina (Louisiana) - 2005, 920 mb
5. Andrew (Florida, Louisiana) - 1992, 922 mb
6. Texas (Indianola) - 1884, 925 mb
7. Florida (Keys) - 1919, 927 mb
8. Florida (Lake Okeechobee) - 1928, 929 mb
9. Donna (Florida) - 1960, 930 mb
10. Louisiana (New Orleans) - 1915; Carla (north and central Texas) - 1961; Ian (southwest Florida) - 2022, 931 mb
Hurricane Katrina, which decimated New Orleans in 2005, is essentially tied with Michael as the third most intense to make U.S. landfall, but was by far the costlier storm. According to NOAA, Katrina, which hit the Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, resulted in $40.6 billion in insured losses and more than $108 billion in total estimated losses.
Most of the costliest hurricanes to hit the U.S. mainland have occurred since 2005, NOAA said.
7 costliest hurricanes in the U.S., adjusted to the 2022 U.S. dollar:
1. Katrina (2005) - $187 billion
2. Harvey (2017) - $149 billion
3. Ian (2022) - $113 billion
4. Sandy (2012) - $83 billion
5. Irma (2017) - $60 billion
6. Andrew (1992) - $56.3 billion
7. Ike (2008) - $40.7 billion
And these are the 10 deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history to hit the mainland:
1. Texas (Galveston) 1900, 8,000-12,000 casualties
2. Florida (SE/Lake Okeechobee) 1928, 2,500-3,000 casualties
3. Katrina (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia) 2005, 1,500 casualties
4. Louisiana (Cheniere Caminanda) 1893, 1,100-1,400 casualties
5. South Carolina/Georgia (Sea Island) 1893, 1,000-2,000 casualties
6. Georgia/South Carolina 1881, 700 casualties
7. Audrey (Louisiana, Texas) 1957, 416 casualties
8. Florida (Keys) 1935, 408 casualties
9. Louisiana (Last Island) 1856, 400 casualties
10. Florida (Miami) 1926, 372 casualties
Some figures are estimated.
If hurricanes outside the continental U.S. are factored in, two hurricanes to strike Puerto Rico -- San Felipe (1928) and David (1979) -- rank among the most intense in history. And Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico in 2017, decimated the island, causing an estimated $90 billion in damage and left nearly 3,000 people dead.
According to NOAA, several 19th-century hurricanes to strike Puerto Rico and one in 1928 (San Felipe) and 1932 (unnamed), would rank among the 20 deadliest storms.
The largest hurricane death toll on record is the Bangladesh Cyclone of 1970, when an estimated 500,000 people died due to the storm surge, according to the National Weather Service.
