05:59 18Sep2003 RTRS-FACTBOX-Deadliest, costliest, most powerful storms in
U.S.

MIAMI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Hurricane Isabel churned toward the U.S. East
coast on Thursday, expected to come ashore in North Carolina on Thursday.
The following are the worst hurricanes to hit the United States since 1900,
measured in deaths, damage and intensity, according to the National
Hurricane Center.
DEADLIEST
The three deadliest tropical cyclones to hit the United States all
occurred before the National Hurricane Center began naming them in 1953.
1. The Galveston, Texas, hurricane of 1900 killed more than 8,000
people.
2. A hurricane southeast of Lake Okeechobee, Florida, in 1928 killed
1,836 people when it sent a wall of water over lakeside farming communities.
3. A hurricane that hit the Florida Keys and southern Texas in 1919
killed 600 people on land and is estimated to have killed over 500 more on
ships lost at sea.
COSTLIEST
1. Hurricane Andrew caused $26.5 billion of damage when it hit southeast
Florida and Louisiana in 1992 and remains the most costly natural disaster
in U.S history.
2. Hurricane Hugo caused $7 billion of damage in South Carolina in 1989.
3. Hurricane Floyd caused $4.5 billion of damage in the Mid-Atlantic and
northeast U.S. states in 1999.
STRONGEST
On Thursday, Isabel was a Category 2 storm on the five-step
Saffir-Simpson scale that measures hurricanes' destructive power. Three
Category 5 storms with sustained winds over 155 mph (249 kph) have hit the
United States since 1900. Air pressure at the surface is considered the most
accurate measure of intensity -- the lower the pressure, the stronger the
storm.
1. The unnamed hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935 had a central
pressure of 892 millibars or 26.35 inches.
2. Hurricane Camille, which hit Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia in
1969, had a central pressure of 909 millibars or 26.84 inches.
3. Hurricane Andrew, which hit southeast Florida and Louisiana in 1992,
had a central pressure of 922 millibars or 27.23 inches.