Last year’s hurricane season was definitely one for the record books. While national focus on the affected areas has waned, cleanup still continues in many regions. Yesterday marked the last day that Puerto Ricans could apply for assistance (archive) from FEMA. In the Houston area, the Houston Chronicle reports (archive) renovations continue at the Houston LDS Temple and a courthouse to clean up flood damage after Hurricane Harvey.
The National Hurricane Center keeps a list of the costliest tropical cyclones (archive) to strike the United States since 1900. This year’s update featured three storms from last season – Harvey, Irma and Maria. Not only did these make the list, but they meandered their way into the top five.
The new top ten list is as follows:
Katrina still holds up as the winner, but last years’ three removed Charley (2004), Irene (2011), and Matthew (2016) from the top ten. The only other season with three storms in the top ten was the record-setting 2005 season. Here’s a look back at last year’s list makers:
Hurricane Harvey
Harvey formed east of the Lesser Antilles on August 17 and became extratropical on September 1. The storm left some residents in Barbados without power and damaged the roof of the Presidential Palace in Suriname, but the bulk of the damage was felt in Texas.
The storm quickly intensified on approach to the Texas Gulf Coast, reaching Category 4 status as it made landfall. Landfall was made near Rockport on the 24th, with winds in the eyewall ranging from 115-145 mph. Extensive damage was inflicted by the winds, but the flooding was the main issue.
After making landfall, Harvey continued inland, roughly paralleling Interstate 37 until its center stalled farther inland. Despite weakening to a tropical storm, it continued do drop heavy rain while remaining stationary between two ridges of high pressure. The storm’s center spent four days over Texas before reentering the Gulf of Mexico on the 28th.
Following reentry into the Gulf of Mexico, Harvey lazily drifted off the Texas coast until it made landfall in southwestern Louisiana on August 30. Slight intensification occurred while offshore, but it never regained hurricane status. Harvey’s position offshore allowed it to drop record amounts of rainfall across the Houston Metropolitan Area, creating a catastrophic flooding situation.
The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that 185,000 homes were damaged with 9,000 being destroyed. Over 60 inches of rain fell in the area, an American record for tropical cyclones. The Chicago Tribune reported that at one point 25 to 30 percent of Harris County was submerged by flood water, covering an area of approximately 444 square miles.
Hurricane Irma
Irma formed into a tropical depression on August 30, while Harvey was still dumping rain in the Houston area. It only took Irma 30 hours to reach hurricane strength. I won’t spend much time talking discussing Irma’s impacts outside the United States (because the list is specific to damage caused in the U.S. and its territories), but the strength that Irma had when hitting places like Barbuda and Sint Maartin was spectacular.
Irma struck three islands, Barbuda, Sint Maartin, and Virgin Gorda back to back to back at peak strength with winds of 180 mph. Almost every building on those islands took damage and many were destroyed. Irma continued west to catastrophically damage the U.S. Virgin Islands, where four people were killed. The New York Post reported (archive) that damage was so bad in marinas on St. John that the National Guard was delayed from providing aid there.
Irma also left a million without power in Puerto Rico, though this number pales in comparison to the damage left by Maria. Florida declared a state of emergency on September 4 and the entirety of the Florida National Guard was mobilized on the 8th.
Irma is tied with 1961’s Hurricane Carla as the 10th most intense hurricane to strike the contiguous United States, with a minimum central pressure of 931mb at landfall. Early forecasts had it heading up the east coast of Florida, passing close to cities like Miami. Miami was affected by the hurricane, but it instead made landfall on the western side of the peninsula and then passed between Tampa and Orlando. Its proximity forced the complete closure (archive) of many theme parks in Orlando, including Walt Disney World.
Evacuations from Irma constituted the largest evacuation in state history, with 6.5 million people having been ordered to flee the storm. Only Florida’s panhandle was spared from strong winds. The National Weather Service in Miami reported that the highest wind gust recorded on land was 142 mph near Naples with a storm spotter reporting a sustained wind speed of 112 mph on Marco Island.
Damage from Irma was not restricted to Florida. Three people were killed by the storm in Georgia, 75,000 people lost power in North Carolina and light damage was reported as far north as Tennessee.
Hurricane Maria
Maria is considered to be the most destructive storm on record to strike Puerto Rico and Dominica. Unlike Irma, which passed to the north of San Juan, Maria tracked directly over Puerto Rico causing damage that is still being cleaned up. Forming on September 13, Maria tracked south of Irma, bringing catastrophic destruction to many areas that had largely been spared just a few weeks earlier.
Maria made landfall as a category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds. Not only did it bring hurricane-force winds to much of the territory, but some mountainous areas experienced rainfall amounts similar to Hurricane Harvey. One station reported a storm total rainfall of 37.9 inches, which is slightly higher than Seattle sees in an entire year. The National Weather Service in San Juan reported (archive) that not a single part of Puerto Rico proper saw rainfall amounts below five inches (though some islands within the territory to the east were below that threshold).
Así quedó el radar Doppler TJUA de Puerto Rico ubicado en Cayey. Según @NWSSanJuan puede tomar 6 meses en instalar otro. #Maria pic.twitter.com/oOWSj9OnFH
— Ada Monzón (@adamonzon) September 25, 2017
Puerto Rico had one NEXRAD site within the territory, but that was destroyed in the chaos. Wind gusts of 145 mph were recorded before communication was lost with the station. The dome that houses the radar itself, which I like to compare to having the appearance of a golf ball on stilts, is built to withstand winds of 130 mph. To really appreciate the intensity of the hurricane, check out the final images sent from the San Juan radar, provided to us by the Maryland Weather Center.
Losses in Puerto Rico were massive. I’m sure entire books will be written about the damage Maria inflicted, both there as well as in the rest of the Caribbean. I’ll only touch on the impacts within the territory that catch my eye.
Flash flooding cut off thousands in the town of Toa Baja, which is located west of San Juan. The New York Times reports (archive) that water from a nearby reservoir as well as from the massive amount of rain caused flood waters to raise six feet in just thirty minutes, eventually cresting at 15 feet. The BBC reported (archive) that at one point the entire island was without power, leaving 3.5 million in the dark.
Photos taken by the Guardian (archive) show a strong recovery in many parts of the territory. The photos also show neighborhoods that are still being rebuilt, such as Juana Matos, where many homes were still missing roofs when areal photos were taken on March 18.
After leaving Puerto Rico, Maria continued northwest to skirt Hispaniola and the Bahamas. North Carolina’s Outer Banks experienced tropical storm-force winds as the storm passed offshore. North Carolina also experienced flooding on some highways (archive). Maria then turned sharply east, accelerating toward Europe where the remnants passed over the Iberian Peninsula after being absorbed into a frontal system.
I know this short synopsis hardly scratches the surface on the effects of these three storms. Like I said above, I’m sure books will be written about this past hurricane season. The upcoming hurricane season doesn’t “officially” begin until June 1, but tropical systems have formed in April before and it’s not uncommon for there to be one in May.
Some agencies issue early forecasts with aims to predict how many storms we will have, but we’ll just have to wait and see where 2018’s tropical storms and hurricanes strike. In the meantime, folks in hurricane-prone areas can just prepare for when the next one heads their way.
All images with ‘MWC’ as the source were provided by Josh Owens from Maryland Weather Center, including the featured image.
