Is Katrina Still The Costliest Hurricane Of All Time? It’s Complicated.

Despite the monster storms this hurricane season and in 2017, Katrina remains No. 1 on the list of costliest hurricanes.

But a twist on the list, with today’s population calculated into historic storms, puts a Florida storm in the top spot, with Katrina at No. 3 and Florida storms otherwise dominating. Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, 2005, in Buras, Louisiana, as a category 3. The storm’s massive size pushed ashore an unprecedented surge that swamped the Mississippi Coast and breached levees in New Orleans, flooding 75 percent of the city. Maria slammed Puerto Rico and Harvey flooded the heavily populated Houston area in 2017, followed this season by Florence, a Category 1 storm that stalled and dumped rain in the Carolinas.