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• Intensity is for time of landfall. The cyclones may have been stronger at other times.
  
• Hurricane Gilbert's estimated 888 mb lowest pressure in mid- September 1988 is the most intense [as measured by lowest sea level pressure] for the Atlantic basin, but it affected the USA only as a weakening tropical depression (Neumann et al 1993).

  * Moving more than 30 miles per hour
  & Highest category justified by winds
  # Classified category 4 because of estimated winds
  

Notes :

• Andrew is no longer the most destructive hurricane on record.
• 24 of the top 30 destructive hurricanes were major hurricanes od Saffir-Simpson scale 3 or higher. Most of the very destructive Category 1 and 2 hurricanes caused their damage through rainfall-induced flooding, often well away from the coast.
• Though the major hurricanes make up only 21% of the US landfalling tropical storms and hurricanes, they cause an estimated 83% of the total normalized damage.
• If one used only inflation to normalize hurricane damages, that would not take into account the massive coastal population increases and structural buildup that have occurred along the US East and especially the Gulf coasts during the past few decades. Major hurricanes will continue to inflict massive destruction along the USA coastlines, even with perfect forecasts of their track and intensity.

One can take some comfort in the fact that even with the massive damage amounts that hurricanes can cause, none of those hurricanes in recent years have caused huge numbers of deaths in the USA. This is because of the increasingly skillful forecasts of hurricane tracks, the ability to communicate warnings to the public via radio and television, and the infrastructure that allows for evacuations to proceed safely for those in the hurricane's path (Sheets 1990).

However, if people chose to ignore warnings or if evacuations are not able to remove people from danger (because of too many people overcrowding limited escape routes - the Florida Keys and US 1 is a good example), then the potential remains for disasters similar to - or worse than - what was seen decades ago.