Consider this

[Jim Cantore]

All the talk about Hurricanes getting more destructive, lets consider the situations.

Hurricane Charley
Strength: 150mph
Damage Total: $15,7 Billion
Notes: A wind storm that strikes a trailer park is going to cause a ton of damage, add it 100mph winds to Orlando and notible effects up to the Carolinas, the type of damage resembled Andrew.

Hurricane Frances
Strength: 105mph
Damage Total: $8.9 Billion
Notes: A pretty populated area and a Hurricane in no hurry is going to equal a high damage total. The heavy evacuation, landfall intensity, and type of damage bear resemblence to Floyd.

Hurricane Ivan
Strength: 120mph
Damage Total: $14.6 Billion
Notes: When a massive Hurricane with a 14-17 foot surge strikes a surge prone area and heavily effects population centers like Mobile and Pensacola the damage will add up, quickly, Damage closely resembles Opal and Frederic.

Hurricane Jeanne
Strength: 120mph
Damage Total: $6.9 Billion
Notes: A Hurricane making landfall in the exact spot as a storm like Frances only three weeks later will easily cause heavy damage. Damage is hard to compare with any storm due to the mix in with Frances.

Hurricane Katrina
Strength: 125-140mph
Damage Total: $75 Billion
Notes: New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile drilled by one storm. The damage from that we knew would be legendary. This can be compared to several Hurricanes, If you live in Alabama, you'd compare it to Frederic, if in Mississippi you'd compare it to Camille, and in Louisiana especially New Orleans you'd compare it to Betsy. three names that are nothing to laugh at.

Hurricane Rita
Strength: 115mph
Damage total: $10 Billion
Notes: Cameron Louisiana could be wiped out by a full moon tide basicly, wait, Cameron is not there for the time being, 20 foot surge in Cameron Parish will wipe that whole area out on any day of the week.

Hurricane Wilma
Strength: 120mph
Damage total: $16.8 Billion
Notes: How convient is this, Wilma comes in literally on her side, convientally putting her strongest winds in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, knocking out power to 6 million people, and nailing an area with high property values. Kind of helps rack up those dollars.

[CHRISTY]

YOU FORGOT MY NIGHTMARE! CLICK ON THE LINK...

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s966.htm

[wxman57]

I've read that the damage in Mississippi alone from Katrina was estimated to be $125 billion with over 65,000 homes destroyed. That $75 billion is a very low initial estimate.

[Ixolib]

All the talk about Hurricanes getting more destructive, lets consider the situations.

Hurricane Katrina
Strength: 125-140mph
Damage Total: $75 Billion
Notes: New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile drilled by one storm. The damage from that we knew would be legendary. This can be compared to several Hurricanes, If you live in Alabama, you'd compare it to Frederic, if in Mississippi you'd compare it to Camille, and in Louisiana especially New Orleans you'd compare it to Betsy. three names that are nothing to laugh at.

Well, I live on the MS coast and I would argue with the Katrina/Camille comparison. I experienced and lived through both - one at 12 years old and the other at 48 - and I can attest to the fact that there is no comparison. Katrina is, by far, the new benchmark in these parts and Camille lives now only as a foggy and extremely distant memory for most. The aftermath of Katrina has put Camille to shame - most of which that can't be aptly described in mere words........

[quandary]

I've read that the damage in Mississippi alone from Katrina was estimated to be $125 billion with over 65,000 homes destroyed. That $75 billion is a very low initial estimate.

How can that be? 125 billion dollars in damage in 1 state? 65000 homes completely destroyed, at say $200,000 per home is only going to be $13 billion, which is still a rather high imo. Of course I have no doubt that damage from Katrina total could be 125 billion or even 200 billion, but 125 billion was the number we gave for a direct hit on Miami; dozens of gutted skyscrapers and massive damage to a major city.

[quandary]

I like the whole classification of damage profiles. Obviously every type of storm is going to be different, but damage styles often clump into groups.

I think the Frances and Jeanne damage is more comparable to the Isabel damage; moderate destruction over a large area caused by moderate winds generally. Floyd's damage was more from the extensive flooding it caused from rainfall and freshwater run-off.

So, we have the following types:

High Wind -- Charley / Andrew / Wilma*
Large Area of Impact -- Frances / Isabel
Costal Surge and Wind -- Rita / Ivan
Major City Damage -- Katrina** / Wilma.
Inland Flooding -- Floyd / Allison

* Wilma caused a lot of damage due to its impact to a major city with strong winds. Wilma also had the high wind factor in Mexico.

** Katrina basically qualifies under everything except excessive rainfall. As mentioned earlier, she was wind demon for MS, a surge demon for the coast, a major city destroyer for N.O. and by virtue of being so big and impacting so many areas, a large scale impacter.

[Audrey2Katrina]

How can that be? 125 billion dollars in damage in 1 state?

I agree with you here; this sounds like some politician speaking in superlatives. It almost certainly will go above the present "estimate" of 75-80 Billion, total; possibly when all is said and done exceeding the 100 B... but I just can't see that much damage in one state alone (given the areas impacted).

A2K

[Alacane2]

Do you think that the $125 Billion estimate includes the destruction caused to the casinos and the lost revenue? Also, it wasn't just the Mississippi coast that was hard hit, but inland areas also took a beating. I have no idea if the $125 billion estimate in Mississippi is correct, just thinking that when tourism and the casino industry are considered (many casinos still not open) the dollars really add up, and continue to add up.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Camille reminds me of Juan (2003) up in Nova Scotia:

A very small, but (for so far North) intense system than only effected a small area. Katrina on the other hand was a scrawling system. As I have always felt when it comes to hurricanes; size matters just as much, maybe even more, than intensity

[Audrey2Katrina]

Do you think that the $125 Billion estimate includes the destruction caused to the casinos and the lost revenue? Also, it wasn't just the Mississippi coast that was hard hit, but inland areas also took a beating. I have no idea if the $125 billion estimate in Mississippi is correct, just thinking that when tourism and the casino industry are considered (many casinos still not open) the dollars really add up, and continue to add up.

I don't know what their reasoning might have been. But I do know that some 20,000 homes were utterly destroyed in St. Bernard Parish alone, and that at least another 100,000 in New Orleans proper (and be careful about assumptions that all those homes were cheap lean-to's as the Lakeview area which saw some of the worst flooding damage had literally thousands of homes with market values well over the $1 million mark.) and if you look at lost revenues it's estimated the tourist mecca that New Orleans had pre-Katrina is costing the area something like $15 mil. a DAY. These things are not factored in when determining total damage figures (something like doubling the insurance claim figures), and on that basis the total damages to any singe state in the worst affected areas, (La., Miss, Ala, to a lesser degree western Fla. panhandle) no single state, as I see it, will approach those figures. Ahh, numbers, one can do so many things with 'em... but I figure the final damage estimate will be hovering somewhere around the $100 B mark.

A2K

[Jim Cantore]

if you ask me, I dont think we'll ever know the true damage total.

[Audrey2Katrina]

if you ask me, I dont think we'll ever know the true damage total.

I'm quite convinced you are correct on that one. As I am that we'll never know the final death toll.

A2K

[Jim Cantore]

I'll estimate the final death toll at 3400

[Audrey2Katrina]

I'll estimate the final death toll at 3400

Yup, my guesstimate is in the same ballpark. Doubtless "official" tally will hover around 1700 tho' ... if they haven't found those 1800 missing by now, they never will IMHO.

A2K

[terstorm1012]

I'll estimate the final death toll at 3400

Yup, my guesstimate is in the same ballpark. Doubtless "official" tally will hover around 1700 tho' ... if they haven't found those 1800 missing by now, they never will IMHO.

A2K

They'll reevaluate it 50 years from now, as they have with the 1906 San Fran quake, and the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, and the 1928 Lake Okechobee flood....now that I think about it, I think the 1935 Keys storm had its death toll revised up too.

[Audrey2Katrina]

They'll reevaluate it 50 years from now, as they have with the 1906 San Fran quake, and the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, and the 1928 Lake Okechobee flood....now that I think about it, I think the 1935 Keys storm had its death toll revised up too.

Oh, I have no doubt they will. Some folks make a living evaluating, re-evaluating, and probably they will eventually re-evaluate the re-evaluation; but all these revisitations notwithstanding, I think the point both Floyd and I have been trying to make is that they'll never know for sure just what it actually was.

Come to think about it... they're ALREADY beginning to call into question an alleged "coverup" among the NOLA deathcounts...1906 revisited?

A2K

**Note: I am by NO meausre of the term into conspiracy theories, I simply made that closing comment as an adjunct to the discussion.

A2K

[Jim Cantore]

conspiracy theories make the world go round

[Audrey2Katrina]

conspiracy theories make the world go round

Yes they do... and round, and round, and round.... till y'er dizzy!

A2K

[Pearl River]

Just a little something from USA Today reference to Katrina and her costs.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2005-09-09-katrina-damage_x.htm

[MGC]

Well, the entire coast line of Harrison County was destroyed for a couple of blockes inland. I'd estimate the cost of one waterfront home in Harrison runs up from 500K. The first two blocks north of Hwy 90 in downtown Gulfport have been bulldozed or soon will be. Don't forget all the business along Hwy 90 that are gone. Literally square miles of Hancock County were destroyed. The entire Parish of St. Benard was destroyed, 2/3 of Orleans Parish was destroyed, 3/4 of Placuemines Parish was destroyed, the entire lake front of St Tammany Parish was destroyed. I think the 75B estimate is a little on the low side. Last I read the Federal Govt has spent close to that 75B alone on Katrina.......MGC