With winds ranging from to miles per hour, Category 3 hurricanes can cause major damage, even on sturdy, well-built homes. These hurricanes can also damage trees and knock out electricity. Irma caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, as well as a record 5 feet of flooding in Jacksonville.
As Hurricane Ida approached the Gulf Coast, politicians and headlines invoked comparisons to Hurricane Katrina , another storm that caused devastation in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane and weakened to Category 3 as it made landfall. Hurricane Rita , a Category 3 storm, hit less than a month later. And while New Orleans is still predominantly a Black city, there are , fewer Black citizens than there were before Katrina, the AP reported in Hurricane Harvey , another Category 4 storm, hit Texas and Louisiana in August ; in two days, it was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane.
Hurricane Harvey slowed after it made landfall, causing torrents of rain to flood southeast Texas. Hurricane Maria, the storm that demolished Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico, hit the island of Dominica as a Category 5 storm. Practically all cell phone service was lost and municipal water supplies were knocked out.
Chan School of Public Health estimated the death toll from Maria at 4, , although the numbers could be higher. People who must remain — for one reason or another — will be dealing with power outages, water and supply shortages, flooding, and devastation yet to be seen. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all.
Catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Please Contact Us. Please try another search. Multiple locations were found. Please select one of the following:. Location Help. Customize Your Weather. Privacy Policy. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale Weather. Current Hazards.
Current Conditions. Rivers and Lakes. Lake Okeechobee. Climate and Past Weather. In general, damage rises by about a factor of four for every category increase. Category 1 : Winds 74 to 95 mph, which will usually produce minor damage, including to trees and power lines.
Category 2: Winds 96 to mph, that could result in extensive damage, uprooting trees, breaking windows, and snapping power lines. Category 3: Winds to mph that can lead to devastating damage to homes and trees and loss of power and water. Category 4: Winds to mph lead to catastrophic damage to homes with winds strong enough to tear off roofs and walls. Can make areas uninhabitable for weeks or months. Category 5: Winds mph or higher, which can result in leveled homes, fallen trees, downed power lines potentially leading to months-long outages and devastated communities.
While winds zipping by at miles per hour can certainly be terrifying, just because a storm has high-speed wind doesn't mean it will always cause a lot of damage. Things like up-to-date building codes can dramatically lessen the impact of storms, and other factors, such as the duration of high winds and a change of wind direction can also mitigate damage.
High winds , of course, are just a part of the damage that comes with a hurricane.
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