2005 canes that were the worst in lost of life and damage?

[john potter]

Katrina is and will be the legend. The rest of the majors were mere intense hurricanes.

[wxman57]

The poll question is too ambiguous to answer properly. Define "worst". Worst for whom? Worst in terms of strongest winds, lower pressure (Wilma)? Worst in terms of lives lost (Stan killed 2000+ people)? Worst in terms of U.S. dollar damage (Katrina)? Worst in terms of damage to offshore assets (Katrina and Rita were close there)?

Should your question read - "Which storm had the greatest impact on lives/property"?

[MiamiensisWx]

Oh... sorry. I mean "worst" in loss of lives and property damage.

[cycloneye]

Oh... sorry. I mean "worst" in loss of lives and property damage.

I edited the title of the thread and poll.

[southerngale]

1. Katrina (just by a nose over Dennis)
2. Dennis (leveled much of Cuba, enough said_
3. Wilma (leveled the Yucatan and severely damaged Sfla and the NW Bahamas)
4. Stan (killed many)
5. Emily (leveled NE Mexico and Grenada)
6. Rita (overall, had the least impact)

Wilma made 2 landfalls so obviously worse in the Yucatan, but if you're going to say it severely damaged Sfla, I would think you would say at least that for Rita in SE Tx and SW La. More like catastrophic along the coast. Seen Cameron and Sabine Pass to name a few? Not much left.
But you're in Florida, so I can see why you'd say it had the least impact.

[Brent]

I think Stan and Wilma were both worse than Rita... let's face it, in the grand scheme of things, Rita wasn't nearly as bad as Katrina or Wilma for the U.S. Yes I know it destroyed some areas, but it still was not on the scale of Katrina and Wilma hit a much more populated area. Stan killed many in Mexico and Central America from flooding.

[Zackiedawg]

Well in straightforward terms, Wilma was worse than Rita in economic impact (larger tourist districts and much larger population centers directly affected), damage costs (approx. $20B to approx. $9B), and direct lives lost (28 to 6).

Hurricane Stan, on the other hand, had a more indirect effect - the rains attributable to the storm which caused the large number of deaths were not necessarily within the storm itself, and damage costs are very low due to the highly depressed economic status of the affected areas.

It may only be my humble opinion...but I don't think Stan was technically worse than Rita by virtually any measure including DIRECT loss of life...but on the basis of the loss of life, indirect or otherwise, Stan did have a bigger human toll.

The damage done by Rita to SW Louisiana and SE Texas was very heavy, and mainly forgotten in the shadow of Katrina. Stan was not much more than alot of rain, that unfortunately drifted over a poor, crowded, mountainous area...just as Jeanne did last year with her huge 3,000+ life death toll despite being no more than a TS when she brushed past Haiti.

[f5]

Katrina's storm surge was like a Tsunami resulting in Catastrophic property damage and lost of life .I also wonder how many people were swept out to sea

[southerngale]

I think Stan and Wilma were both worse than Rita... let's face it, in the grand scheme of things, Rita wasn't nearly as bad as Katrina or Wilma for the U.S. Yes I know it destroyed some areas, but it still was not on the scale of Katrina and Wilma hit a much more populated area. Stan killed many in Mexico and Central America from flooding.

Most definitely Katrina was the worst out of all of them. Horrific.
Wilma making what 3 landfalls technically was most assuredly devastating to Cozumel/Yucatan. I realize Wilma hit a more populated area in Florida than Rita hit in SW La and SE Tx...I just meant worse in damage as to where it did hit.

Even a TS in Galveston or Miami can cause more damage and be more costly than a major hurricane hitting a much less populated area. That's pretty easy to understand. Look where Bret hit in 1999.

[southerngale]

Well in straightforward terms, Wilma was worse than Rita in economic impact (larger tourist districts and much larger population centers directly affected), damage costs (approx. $20B to approx. $9B), and direct lives lost (28 to 6).

Yep, depends on where it hits as far as total economic damage and of course, how many landfalls as well. Considering over 90% of people in the path of Rita evacuated, the largest evacuation in history, any direct deaths were too many. Most people left = less deaths. I hope everyone takes notice of that and leaves the next time a hurricane threatens their area. Seeing the damage, I can't imagine how many there would be had more people stayed.

[Derek Ortt]

Rita overall had the least impact. Effects on the Keys were minor and its US landfall was not close to the level of devastation as Wilma was

Stan also should be removed from the poll since the NHC is classifying only about 5% of the deaths as directly attributal to Stan. The rest are due to general flooding

[southerngale]

Rita overall had the least impact. Effects on the Keys were minor and its US landfall was not close to the level of devastation as Wilma was

You gotta be kidding me! Apparently you're uninformed about the devastation here and in SW La where Rita hit and/or missed a lot of Rita photos. I've seen both. Perhaps you're unintentionally influenced since you live there.

I know the media did a bad job of showing just what Rita did since they were still on the horrific Katrina, but I didn't realize it was that bad.

[george_r_1961]

Rita overall had the least impact. Effects on the Keys were minor and its US landfall was not close to the level of devastation as Wilma was

Stan also should be removed from the poll since the NHC is classifying only about 5% of the deaths as directly attributal to Stan. The rest are due to general flooding

The least impact where? SE Texas and SW LA suffered heavy to catastrophic damage. Just because YOU did not feel her effects doesnt negate the fact that Rita was a devastating storm.

[Derek Ortt]

I stand by my statement that Rita, while bad, is not on the scale of Dennis, which leveled 2/3 of Cuba, Emily, which flat out OBLITERATED NE Mexico and Grenada (U.S. media did not see the damage), Katrina, or Wilma, which severely damaged the Yucatan, Cuba, the Bahamas, and caused about twice as much damage as did Rita in the USA. The damage was severe from Rita, but just not on the scale overall as the others

[f5]

Rita leveled Cameron with her storm surge the same way Waveland,mississippi was leveled by Katrina.Had Rita gone farther west and leveled Galveston we be hearing all about it

[Derek Ortt]

The media also has done a horrible job of depicting the Wilma damage. Until I actually looked at damage photos of Lake Okeechobee, I did not even know that the western shore was devastated. All the media showed was the high rises, but trust me, its a LOT more than that. The Keys as of the start of the month had debris piles lining every street in residential districts in Marathon and surrounding areas, MUCH WORSE in Key West. Davie was severely damaged, along with the regions that got the southern eye wall.

The media still only wanted to talk about Katrina

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

If Rita had "not been weaken" in it would of went westward in hit the major city. We would be reading about Rita being the big one not Katrina.

[Derek Ortt]

Matt,

by the same token, had Wilma have tracked 5-10 miles to the south of what it did, it would have been the big one as 22,000 people decided NOT to evacuate Key West. The island would have went under water from Florida Bay

[f5]

If Rita had "not been weaken" in it would of went westward in hit the major city. We would be reading about Rita being the big one not Katrina.

if Katrina had not turn due north at the last minute and continue WNW as a CAT 5 during the last couple hrs before landfall she would of destroyed N.O. i'll just simply say this instead of 1,000+ dead it would of been 100,000+ DEAD instead also we would not be talking about N.O beacuse it would be underwater for good(Atlantis)

[quandary]

How is this a real question? Katrina caused 80 billion in damage and 1200 deaths. No other storm caused near that much damage and Stan is not considered responsible for the 1000-2000 deaths that resulted from its interaction with a tropical wave.