Most Intense¹ Hurricanes in the United States²

(U.S. Mainland)

Rank	Hurricane	Year	Category³
1.	Florida Keys	1935	5
2.	Camille (Miss./La./Va.)	1969	5
3.	Katrina (La./Miss.)⁴	2005	3
4.	Andrew (Fla./La.)	1992	5
5.	Indianola, Tex.	1886	4
6.	Florida Keys/Tex.	1919	4
7.	Lake Okeechobee, Fla.	1928	4
8.	Donna (Fla./Eastern U.S.)	1960	4
9.	New Orleans, La.	1915	4
9.	Carla (Tex.)	1961	4
11.	Last Island, La.	1856	4
11.	Hugo (S.C.)	1989	4

1. Intensity and category are for time of landfall; hurricanes may have been stronger at other times.

2. 1851–2013.

3. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane scale: Cat. 1 = weak; Cat. 5 = devastating.

4. While a hurricane's category is determined by maximum sustained wind speed, its intensity is determined by barometric central pressure. As Katrina illustrates, the two do not have a direct one-to-one relationship.

Sources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters, 1980–2013

Weather

Costliest Hurricanes in the United States (U.S. Mainland)

More on Most Intense Hurricanes in the United States from Infoplease:

Weather - Infoplease is the world's largest free reference site. Facts on weather, space, astronomy, explorations, inventions, aviation, computers, science, and the Internet.
Hurricanes by the Numbers (Atlantic hurricane statistics) - Find the most current statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau on Atlantic hurricanes.
Hurricane Season - Find 2012 hurricane season predictions and a review of previous hurricane seasons, including storm names, strength, and cost.
Hurricane Katrina - Hurricane Katrina A disaster and its catastrophic aftermath by Borgna Brunner The eye of the storm ...
Homework Center: Earth Sciences - Subjects » Geography » History » Language Arts » Mathematics » ...