What is the mightiest hurricane ever recorded? How does Hurricane Milton stand against other formidable tempests?

 What is the mightiest hurricane ever recorded? How does Hurricane Milton stand against other formidable tempests?

The annals of history are punctuated by the wrath of nature’s fiercest hurricanes, their names forever etched into the collective memory of those who experienced their destructive power Among these titanic storms the question often arises: which one reigns supreme in terms of sheer strength?

Enter Hurricane Milton, the latest in a long line of nature’s unfathomable atmospheric disturbances. But how does this tempest measure up when weighed against the formidable gales of yesteryears? To answer that, we must first take a step back and revisit some of the most historically devastating cyclonic beasts that have churned across our oceans

Hurricane Allen

water cover the jfk causeway aug.9.1980 fllowning  Hurricane allen  water bamett/caller times file

Hurricanes like Camille (1969) and Katrina (2005) are often referenced as benchmarks of destruction and intensity. Camille’s ferocious landfall brought wind speeds upward of 190 miles per hour, while Katrina’s relentless force submerged entire cities. Yet, before these juggernauts, there was the Great Hurricane of 1780, an untamed behemoth that devastated the Caribbean, obliterating entire fleets and claiming tens of thousands of lives in its wake. These storms have set the bar for what we deem "unprecedented."

• Year: 1980 
• Location: Made landfall on South Padre Island, Texas
• Peak Wind Speed: 190 mph
• Deaths: 269
• What happened: Allen is considered to be the only hurricane in the history of the Atlantic basin to reach 190 mph of sustained winds. The winds of the storm were so powerful that until Hurricane Patricia in 2015, Allen’s peak wind speed was the highest sustained winds in the Western Hemisphere.

Hurricane Wilma 

Palm trees are shaken by the winds of passing Hurricane Wilma in the coastal town of Boca de Galafre, Cuba, in the

western province of Pinar del Rio, in this October 23, 2005 file photo. Claudia Daut/REUTERS

• Ye
• ar: 2005
• Location: Made landfall in Cape Romano, Florida
• Peak Wind Speed: 185 mph
• Deaths: 52
• What happened: Another powerful hurricane, Wilma is considered to be the most intense cyclone in the history of the Atlantic basin and the second-most intense in the Western hemisphere in terms of barometric pressure. The same year as another infamous hurricane, Katrina, it was part of the devastating 2005 hurricane season.

Hurricane Andrew

Dustin Allor, 9, makes his way through the rubble of the DeSoto Trailer Park that was flattened during Hurricane Andrew in Homestead in 1992. GREG LOVETT/THE PALM BEACH POST

• 
  
• Year: 1992
• Location: Elliot Key, Florida, about nine miles east of Homestead
• Peak Wind Speed: 175 mph
• Deaths: 65
• What happened: The Category 5 hurricane is considered one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit Florida. Andrew was the costliest hurricane in Florida’s history until Hurricane Irma passed it 25 years later, according to the National Hurricane Center, Irma caused around $77 billion dollars in damages.

Hurricane Andrew

Andy Pitt (in the water) pulls this boat up Veterans Blvd. on Saturday afternoon 9/2/05 after rescuing two cats along with

• Ronald Foret (in the boat). John Rowland/The Lafayette Daily Advertiser
• 
  
• Year: 2005
• Location: Three landfalls, one in Keating Beach, Florida and two others near Buras, Louisiana and near the Louisiana-Mississippi border
• Peak Wind Speed: 175 mph
• Deaths: 1,392
• What happened: Ranked as the deadliest storm since 1950, Katrina is tied with Hurricane Harvey as the costliest Atlantic hurricane on record, according to the National Hurricane Center. The largest reason for deaths connected to Katrina was the failure of the levees around New Orleans which caused catastrophic flooding in the area