What was the worst hurricane to hit the US? Time-travelling TikToker claims Category 6 monster will hit Florida in September 2023
MIAMI, FLORIDA: A self-proclaimed 'time-traveler' has predicted in a viral TikTok video that the states of Florida and the Carolinas will witness the world’s first Category 6 hurricane on September 4 this year. This absurd claim by the individual has sparked a lot of speculation among the experts in the country as Cat 6 hurricane doesn’t fit on the Saffir–Simpson Scale used to rate storms.
Following the 2005 hurricane disaster which wrecked parts of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, it was reported that some scientists began wondering if a new category of storms was needed. They proposed the idea that storms having sustained winds of over 175 or 180 mph be classified as Category 6.
What was the worst hurricane to hit the US?
Although the North American country has often been riddled with a large number of natural calamities over the years which include tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes, let us take a deep dive to find out how the United States was affected by the worst hurricane that hit the country almost more than a century ago.
The country was hit by its worst recorded hurricane back in 1900 which is known as the 1900 Galveston hurricane or the Great Galveston hurricane. It was regionally known as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm.
The deadliest natural disaster left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the country, with the number most mentioned in official reports being 8,000.
Most of the casualties occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge inundated the coastline and the island city with 8 to 12 ft (2.4 to 3.7 m) of water.
It still remains among the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes on record. Besides the staggering death toll, the storm destroyed about 7,000 buildings of all uses in Galveston, which included 3,636 demolished homes.
There was not a single place in the city that could escape the hurricane's wrath. It left approximately 10,000 people in the city homeless, out of a total population of fewer than 38,000.
The disaster ended the Golden Era of Galveston, as the natural disaster alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead.
A trio of engineers designed and oversaw plans to raise the Gulf of Mexico shoreline of Galveston Island by 17 ft (5.2 m) and erect a 10 mi (16 km) seawall in response to the storm.
The great storm also brought flooding and severe thunderstorms to portions of the Caribbean, especially Cuba and Jamaica. It is estimated that much of South Florida experienced tropical storm-force winds, though primarily minor damage occurred.
Hurricane-force winds and storm surges inundated portions of southern Louisiana, though no one was severely affected or lost their lives in the state due to the storm.
The hurricane brought strong winds and storm surge to a large portion of east Texas, with Galveston suffering the brunt of the impact.
Fatalities occurred in other states, including fifteen in Ohio, two in Illinois, two in New York, one in Massachusetts, and one in Missouri.
Damage from the storm throughout the US exceeded US$34 million at that time, with about US$30 million in Galveston County, Texas, alone. If a similar storm struck in 2010, the damage would total approximately US$104.33 billion.
The remnants also brought a severe impact on Canada.
The meteorological history of the deadly disaster
According to Wikipedia, it is believed that the storm originated from a tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa and emerged into the Atlantic Ocean.
However, it cannot be considered to be fully accurate because of the limited observational methods available to contemporary meteorologists, with ship reports being the only reliable tool for observing hurricanes at that time.
On August 27, 1900, the first formal sighting of the tropical storm occurred about 1,000 mi (1,600 km) east of the Windward Islands.
