Topline
The death toll from Hurricane Ian reached at least 12 on Friday and is expected to climb, according to reports from local officials, making the storm one of the state’s deadliest in recent history, but far from the worst.
The death toll from Hurricane Ian is at least 12, although it’s expected to rise.
Key Facts
President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis say the actual number of people killed by Hurricane Ian—which plowed through Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic before veering north—could be far higher than the 12 recorded so far, with Biden warning Thursday it could be the “deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history.”
The deadliest recorded hurricane to ever hit Florida was the San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane in 1928, which killed 1,836 in the state, including in areas around Central Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Two years earlier, the Great Miami Hurricane killed an estimated 373 people according to the Red Cross, although the NHC states the number could have been much higher, as 800 people reportedly went missing in South Florida, and in 1935, high winds and tides from the Florida Keys Labor Day Hurricane killed 408 as the storm carved its way up the Gulf Coast, according to the NHC.
More recent hurricanes have had smaller death tolls than some of the monster storms of the early 20th century: Hurricane Donna in 1960—the fifth-strongest ever recorded in the U.S.—left 50 dead nationwide, including 12 in Florida, according to the National Weather Service, while Hurricane Agnes in 1972 killed nine in the Florida Panhandle and a total of 122 across the U.S.
The largest death toll caused directly by a hurricane in Florida over the past 30 years was Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm in 1992 that directly killed 26 people due to factors such as drowning and building collapses, though another 39 died from indirect factors like stress-induced cardiovascular issues, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Irma in 2017, however, resulted in 10 direct deaths and 82 indirect deaths, including 77 in Florida, a higher total fatality figure than Andrew.
Recently, Hurricane Michael in 2018 killed 16 directly and 43 indirectly in Florida after making landfall on the Florida Panhandle, while Wilma in 2005 killed five in south Florida, and Charley in 2004—which made landfall in roughly the same spot as Ian—directly killed nine people in Florida and indirectly killed another 24 in the state.
Key Background
Ian made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 4 major hurricane, packing 150 mph maximum sustained winds and causing flooding and 12-foot storm surges. On Thursday, Florida’s Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said on ABC’s Good Morning America the major storm likely killed “hundreds of people” in the Gulf Coast county where the storm made landfall.
Tangent
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 killed a total of 1,200 people, including roughly 1,000 in Louisiana and 200 in Mississippi, according to the NHC. The storm initially made landfall in Florida, before strengthening over the Gulf of Mexico and devastating New Orleans, where broken levees from intense storm surges inundated the city’s Lower Ninth Ward. It’s the costliest hurricane in U.S. history: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration pegs the total cost at $186.3 billion, when adjusting for inflation. The second costliest was Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall near the border of Texas and Louisiana in 2017, causing $148.8 billion in damage.
What To Watch For
Ian is expected to make landfall once again over the South Carolina coast as a Category 1 hurricane as early as Friday afternoon. The storm—which had weakened into a tropical storm after it began carving through inland Florida—intensified over the past 24 hours, with 85 mph maximum sustained winds, according to the NHC. Forecasters warn it could bring a “life-threatening” storm surge and heavy rain that could stretch hundreds of miles inland.
Surprising Fact
The deadliest hurricane in U.S. history was the epic Galveston Hurricane in Texas in 1900, where estimates range from 6,000 to 12,000 fatalities.
Further Reading
At Least 12 Dead From Hurricane Ian In Florida—And Numbers Expected To Rise (Forbes)
Hurricane Ian: These Are The Florida Areas Hardest Hit By The Category 4 Storm (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/09/30/hurricane-ian-could-be-one-of-floridas-deadliest-storms-in-years-but-historic-storms-were-far-deadlier/