Residents in the Bahamas and along the southeastern U.S. are bracing for impact as Hurricane Dorian edges closer.
The fierce Category 4 storm bore down on the northwestern Bahamas Saturday, as new projections for the path of the hurricane curved upward enough to potentially spare Florida a direct hit while still threatening it with powerful winds.
Forecasters said the ever-strengthening Dorian is expected to dance up the southeast coastline, skirting the coast of Georgia, with the possibility of landfall still a threat on Wednesday, and then continuing up to South Carolina early Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the U.S. uses the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates a hurricane's sustained wind speed from one to five. This is how hurricanes are categorized.
“Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage,” the National Hurricane Center says on its website.
According to the scale, Category 4 storms can sustain wind speeds exceeding 250 km/h and cause catastrophic damage which can leave areas uninhabitable for months.
The U.S. and the Caribbean have borne the brunt of many brutal Category 4 storms. Here’s a look at some of the worst:
Galveston Hurricane - 1900
The Galveston Hurricane at the turn of the last century rapidly intensified over the Gulf of Mexico and by the time the storm reached the coast of Texas it was a Category 4 hurricane, according to the NHC.
At the time it was the deadliest weather disaster in U.S. history, travelling north through the Great Plains before it reached the Great Lakes, New England and southeastern Canada.
Huge storm surges of eight to 15 feet were largely responsible for the deaths of 8,000 people and caused estimated US$30 million in damage.
Hurricane Isabel - 2003
The most instense hurricane of the 2003 season, according to the NHC, Isabel brought tropical storm force gusts as far north as New York State.
Starting off the coast of Africa as a tropical wave, it intensified to a Category 4 east of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. It eventually reached Category 5 status, but weakened by the time it arrived in the U.S. The storm resulted in 17 deaths and more than US$3 billion in damage.
Hurricane Ike - 2008
Ike was a long-lived and major Cape Verde hurricane that caused extensive damage and many deaths across portions of the Caribbean and along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, according to the NHC.
This weather system changed intensity from Category 1 to Category 4 and back down to Category 2 when it made landfall in Texas.
But Ike left a long trail of death and destruction. It is estimated that flooding and mud slides killed 74 people in Haiti and two in the Dominican Republic. Seven deaths were also reported in Cuba.
At least 20 people were killed in the southern U.S., the NHC said.
Property damage from Ike as a hurricane is estimated at US$19.3 billion.
Hurricane Harvey – 2017
Harvey is the second-most costly hurricane in U.S. history at US$125 billion, behind only Katrina in 2005. Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 5 hurricane, caused an estimated US $161 billion in damage, according to the Office for Coastal Management.
Harvey rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane before making landfall along the mid-Texas coast, dropping historic amounts of rainfall of more than 60 inches (152 cm) over southeastern Texas leading to catastrophic flooding.
Harvey was responsible for at least 68 deaths in the U.S., all in Texas, with about 35 more ascribed to indirect causes, such as electrocution, motor-vehicle crashes and isolation from necessary medical services.
Tens of thousands of homes were damaged in the storm.
