When tropical waves form off the Cape Verde Islands, they seem to make a slow, deliberate track that takes them in the direct vicinity of the southern coast of the United States. Because of the potential threat of hurricanes, it is a good idea to have an emergency plan when living on the southern coast.
The exact landfall and wind speed of hurricanes is notoriously unpredictable. Some hurricanes, while eliciting dire predictions, barely make an impact, and some hurricanes that do not pose an initial threat end up being deadly.
Even without the Saffir-Simpson wind damage scale, developed in 1971 by engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist Bob Simpson, some of these hurricanes that have rocked the southern coast will be remembered, either for their monetary destructiveness or their deadliness.
Two of the costliest and most devastating hurricanes to hit the southern coast in recent history were Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Andrew devastated the Miami area in 1992 with winds of 170 mph. It was classified as a category 5 and caused 30 billion in damage. Hurricane Katrina hit South Florida in 2005, first as a category 1, before continuing to the Gulf Coast and annihilating Louisiana and Mississippi. It killed almost 2000 people and caused nearly 200 billion in damages.