The most destructive, deadliest hurricanes in recent U.S. history

KTRK logo
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Devastating hurricanes in U.S. history
From Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Andrew to Hurricane Harvey, these storms will go down in history.

With so many ways to measure a hurricane -- from sustained wind speeds, to total cost to lives lost -- it can be hard to quantify what makes a hurricane historic. FiveThirtyEight examined some of the costliest, deadliest modern tropical storms, putting together a list of tropical storms that have caused at least $1 billion damage since 1980.

Here's a look at the ten deadliest of those storms, including Hurricane Harvey's most recent estimates.

Katrina
Date: Aug. 25, 2005
Estimated Damage: $160 billion
Death toll: 1,833

Sandy
Date: Oct. 30, 2012
Estimated Damage: $70.2 billion
Death toll: 159

Rita
Date: Sept. 20, 2005
Estimated Damage: $23.7 billion
Death toll: 119

Ike

Date: Sept. 12, 2008
Estimated Damage: $34.8 billion
Death toll: 112

Hugo
Date: Sept. 21, 1989
Estimated Damage: $18.2 billion
Death toll: 86

Floyd
Date: Sept. 14, 1999
Estimated Damage: $9.7 billion
Death toll: 77

Harvey
Date: Aug. 25, 2017
Estimated Damage: Could be as much as $180 billion
Death toll: At least 70

Juan
Date: Oct. 27, 1985
Estimated Damage: $3.5 billion

Death toll: 63

Andrew
Date: Aug. 23, 1992
Estimated Damage: $47.8 billion
Death toll: 61

Ivan
Date: Sept. 12, 2004
Estimated Damage: $27.1 billion
Death toll: 57