5 Of The Most Expensive “Female” Tropical Storms

Deadly Things

5 Of The Most Expensive “Female” Tropical Storms

1:30 pm, October 29th | by Sarah Devlin

When the practice of naming hurricanes first began in 1953, the names that were used were all female, all the time. How depressing! In the more lady-friendly year of 1979, the National Hurricane Center began alternating male and female names, a practice that continues today. This year, the lady on everyone’s mind is Sandy, as the hurricane makes its way up the East Coast over the next couple of days (although an equal amount of people seem to be fond of the much more creative “Frankenstorm”). In Sandy’s honor, let’s take a look at some other huge and expensive storms that happened to be “female,” and try to resist any “ladies like expensive things” jokes while we’re at it.

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1.1. Hurricanes Rita and Wilma

Double trouble: "These two storms, each of which caused an estimated $19 billion in damage in 2005, ended up as something of a footnote as they came ashore a short while after Hurricane Katrina. Though the financial damage was more limited than Katrina, the emotional damage was tremendous. Wilma, in particular, had become the fourth Category 5 hurricane of 2005, packing 185 miles at its peak." - Investing Answers

2.2. Hurricane Frances

Touching down in September 2004 right after Katrina in Florida, Frances racked up a $5.7 billion damages bill. - Business Insider

3.3. Hurricane Iniki

Hurricane Iniki, which struck Hawaii on September 11th, 1992, was the deadliest and costliest hurricane to strike Hawaii, killing four people and costing $1.8 billion. - NOAA

4.4. Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene was one of only three named storms to make it to shore in 2011, but she made up for the relatively quiet year by costing $15 billion in damages in the United States and the Caribbean. - Munich Re

5.5. Hurricane Katrina

"It was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States. Katrina first caused fatalities and damage in southern Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. After reaching Category 5 intensity over the central Gulf of Mexico, Katrina weakened to Category 3 before making landfall on the northern Gulf coast. Even so, the damage and loss of life inflicted by this massive hurricane in Louisiana and Mississippi were staggering, with significant effects extending into the Florida panhandle, Georgia, and Alabama. Considering the scope of its impacts, Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in United States history." - NOAA