What Was 2005's Most Underrated Storm?

[MiamiensisWx]

I think Rita was 2005's most underrated storm, followed very closely by Wilma and several others, including Emily.

Which storm of 2005 do you think was most underrated or downplayed?

[Derek Ortt]

ophelia

wasnt even the lead story... lead story remained Katrina, even though NC suffered more than 1.6 billion in damages

[Astro_man92]

Emily

[brunota2003]

ophelia

wasnt even the lead story... lead story remained Katrina, even though NC suffered more than 1.6 billion in damages

id have to agree with that...

Ophelia:
In Havelock, at my house I got a pressure reading of 994.3 Millibars and picked up 6.75 inches of rain The pressure could have been lower though, as my weather station was only recording at the top of each hour, so it was probably closer to 994.0 Millibars. I also estimated wind speeds around 50-55 sustained and gusts up to 65-70 MPH, interesting that a weather station about 2 miles North of me recorded a gust to 75 MPH, so my estimate was not half bad... We had alot of damage, more than Isabel here, and the surge was pretty bad, not like in Katrina or Wilma, but Carteret County, just south of me, did receive some hefty damage from the surge, and so did portions of my county... You can see the pics in the report below...
NWS Report on Ophelia: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/mhx/14Sep2005/14Sep2005.html

Also:

Any other year though and that would of been right up there with the rest of the hurricanes... I really don't remember the media grabbing onto Ophelia like they did with Isabel, mainly because of the local, state, and national gov't playing the blame game over Katrina...

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Rita....It was covered up by Katrina. But costed 9 billion in damage.

[WindRunner]

I actually think Stan - it was almost certainly the deadliest storm of the year. Sure, Rita was definately far underrated, but it did get attention as it was a US storm, as are all of the storms on the list. All of these got some decent or better media coverage, whereas Stan I heard all of three 30-second segments about the mudslides on the evening news a week after he hit. You could also argue that Stan only caused 80 or so direct deaths (as per NHC summary), but saying so would only contribute to the argument that Stan is underrated.

[wxmann_91]

I agree, Stan was the most underrated storm. The events of Rita/Katrina and the Kashmir earthquake really covered it up.

[WaitingForSiren]

I say Rita, it was underrated in that everyone contrasted it with Katrina and blew it off as a wimpy afterthought.

[Margie]

Definitely Katrina.

Most people who live in this country still have no idea that 200 miles of coastline disappeared, all the way from Grand Isle, LA to Bayou La Batre, AL.

Want to hear a true story? When Gov Barbour was working around the clock in Dec to try to get Congress to pass the funding for Katrina recovery that was several months overdue, congressmen would ask him, surprised, why any money was needed and wasn't everything back to normal by now? This happened more than once.

It was "our tsunami," but effectively hidden from the country and the world, by the myopic and rediculous media coverage of NOLA, and that included coverage by overseas media such as the BBC. It was the first time I had seen such biased coverage by the BBC, who went out of their way to cover the many small communities affected by last year's tsunami.

To put it another way, that is close to the same amount of coastline between Baltimore and New York, inclusive.

It really is appropriately called the biggest natural disaster in this country. Now it is fading from that public's memory without the real story ever being told.

[MiamiensisWx]

Oh... sorry if I did not put Stan in.

Can Stan be added to the poll? Please?

[WindRunner]

Oh... sorry if I did not put Stan in.

Can Stan be added to the poll? Please?

No, you're fine. Mine and wxmann's votes go/went in the "other" category.

And I don't think there is another storm that isn't listed that could be considered underrated.
Of course someone is going to say something just to prove me wrong now

[StormScanWx]

1) Ophelia
2) Tammy
3) Stan
4) Wilma


Yes, Ophelia is my pick, because it seems like every part of the media, etc. is focused on New Orleans/Katrina. (No I am not down-playing Katrina at all!! Just saying.) And I would think Tammy comes in at 2. Not many people knew about Tammy at the time, and she went unnoticed, IMO. Stan went unnoticed to most of the American public. Also, Wilma was a bit underrated if you ask me.

Also, IMO, Rita wasn't underrated much. She was the 2nd most 'looked at' storm of the season.

[O Town]

Rita.

[docjoe]

It seems to me that outside of Katrina all storms this year were underreported/underrated. Rita and Stan got pushed to the backburner by Katrina. Dennis was for the most part overshadowed by Ivan as the media sat in P'cola and decided it wasnt that bad while Santa Rosa county got pounded. Almost any other year a landfalling Cat 3 would have been big news. I wonder it most of it comes down to so many storms have hit the past two years that it just doesnt grab the attention of people like it once did???

docjoe

[Ivanhater]

It seems to me that outside of Katrina all storms this year were underreported/underrated. Rita and Stan got pushed to the backburner by Katrina. Dennis was for the most part overshadowed by Ivan as the media sat in P'cola and decided it wasnt that bad while Santa Rosa county got pounded. Almost any other year a landfalling Cat 3 would have been big news. I wonder it most of it comes down to so many storms have hit the past two years that it just doesnt grab the attention of people like it once did???

docjoe

good point, our local media is to blame as well, first reports were " we dodged a bullet, santa rosa island only has some power poles down" ya, my grandparents roof blew off on pcola beach...many storms were underrated last year

[HurricaneBill]

I'd say certain parts of storms:

Dennis: Some people made it seem like Dennis was like Hurricane Bret.

Emily: Did anyone really hear much about Emily's second Mexican landfall? I heard that was more destructive than the Yucatan landfall.

Rita: Was hyped up to be "Katrina II". When that didn't happen, Rita coverage dropped quicker than Michael Brown's approval ratings. (OK, maybe not THAT quickly.)

Rita is now known as the "forgotten hurricane".

Stan: Stan was "merely" a Category 1. Again, the media doesn't think much of Category 1 storms.

However, many people probably forget that Stan did something similar to Charley last year. Stan veered off the forecasted track. Instead of moving west, Stan suddenly veered to the south and made landfall much sooner than expected.

Storms like Charley and Stan should remind us that despite all our technology and forecasting skills, some hurricanes will still surprise us.

Wilma: Wilma was pretty much expected to be a weakening Category 1 or possibly a 2 at landfall on Florida. Instead, she came ashore as a strengthening Category 3, possibly a 4.

Yet, despite this, Wilma seemed to be neglected in the news as well. After a couple of days, she was pretty much old news.

Aside from Florida, there are two areas that were hit by Wilma and yet received little if any coverage.

1. Cuba received a surge from Wilma, especially Havana.

2. The northern Bahamas got hit by a 15 ft surge, yet you heard hardly anything! This is despite the fact that somke people in the Bahamas said Wilma was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit in decades.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

I thought Floyd was the worst hurricane to hit the Bahamas. Fellowed by Frances.

Also Dennis was a ver small hurricane. Maybe winds of above 80 mph no more then 15 nmi. In major hurricane in 2 or 3 nmi wide area.

Rita destroyed a city in caused 9 billion in damage.

[MiamiensisWx]

I'd say certain parts of storms:

Dennis: Some people made it seem like Dennis was like Hurricane Bret.

Emily: Did anyone really hear much about Emily's second Mexican landfall? I heard that was more destructive than the Yucatan landfall.

Rita: Was hyped up to be "Katrina II". When that didn't happen, Rita coverage dropped quicker than Michael Brown's approval ratings. (OK, maybe not THAT quickly.)

Rita is now known as the "forgotten hurricane".

Stan: Stan was "merely" a Category 1. Again, the media doesn't think much of Category 1 storms.

However, many people probably forget that Stan did something similar to Charley last year. Stan veered off the forecasted track. Instead of moving west, Stan suddenly veered to the south and made landfall much sooner than expected.

Storms like Charley and Stan should remind us that despite all our technology and forecasting skills, some hurricanes will still surprise us.

Wilma: Wilma was pretty much expected to be a weakening Category 1 or possibly a 2 at landfall on Florida. Instead, she came ashore as a strengthening Category 3, possibly a 4.

Yet, despite this, Wilma seemed to be neglected in the news as well. After a couple of days, she was pretty much old news.

Aside from Florida, there are two areas that were hit by Wilma and yet received little if any coverage.

1. Cuba received a surge from Wilma, especially Havana.

2. The northern Bahamas got hit by a 15 ft surge, yet you heard hardly anything! This is despite the fact that somke people in the Bahamas said Wilma was one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit in decades.

Very good points. I also agree with Margie on how awfully Katrina's TRUE devastation in areas besides New Orleans was ignored. However, I have to add that Florida Bay received a significant surge from Wilma, yet that was completely ingnored by the media. The huge amount of destruction by Wilma in southern Florida, including along the southern shores of Lake Okeechobee, have been hugely ignored and hugely downplayed by the media. Many people don't know the terrible destruction Wilma did to the towns and communities along the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee. Few people also know that many mobile homes all over the southern portion of Florida was destroyed or severely damaged by Wilma as well. It's amazing that a storm like Wilma - one of the few storms that was strengthening before U.S. landfall - has already been nearly forgotten while many, many people in Florida, the Bahamas, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Cuba are still recovering. Really... how can a storm like Wilma be ignored? How can even storms that are weakening before landfall be downplayed as "not being highly destructive"? The media coverage on Wilma, like nearly every storm this year, has been downright pitiful, at the very least.

In Rita's case, few people know that Rita caused incredible destruction even miles inland. Few people know that Rita also destroyed many, many towns in northeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. In Katrina, I don't even need to tell you... we all know how the media has been. Stan was hugely ignored as well, and Emily was, too, as well as nearly every other storm this year.

[Jim Cantore]

Rita was underrated but Ophelia very quietly caused over a billion in damage

[JonathanBelles]

rita it was so close to katrina