Landfall in the context of "Hurricane Florence"

The 1970 Bhola cyclone (also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970 or simply the Bhola Cyclone) was the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, as well as one of the deadliest humanitarian disasters ever recorded. It struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970. At least 300,000 people died in the storm, possibly as many as 500,000, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. The Bhola cyclone was the sixth and strongest cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season.

The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on 8 November and traveled northward, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on 10 November, and made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan on the following afternoon. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected upazila Tazumuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 were killed by the storm.

Hurricane Harvey was a powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting $125 billion (2017 USD) in damage, primarily from catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding in Greater Houston and Southeast Texas; this made the storm the costliest natural disaster recorded in Texas at the time. It was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at the intensity of a major hurricane throughout the country. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing unprecedented flooding. With peak accumulations of 60.58 in (1,539 mm) in Nederland, Texas, Harvey was the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, which displaced more than 30,000 people and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.

The eighth named storm, third hurricane, and first major hurricane of the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Harvey developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Lesser Antilles, reaching tropical storm status on August 17. The storm crossed through the Windward Islands on the following day, making landfall on the southern end of Barbados and a second landfall on Saint Vincent. Upon entering the Caribbean, Harvey began to weaken due to moderate wind shear, and degenerated into a tropical wave north of Colombia, late on August 19. The remnants were monitored for regeneration as it continued west-northwestward across the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, before redeveloping over the Bay of Campeche on August 23. Harvey then began to rapidly intensify on August 24, regaining tropical storm status and becoming a hurricane later that day.

The 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season was an extremely devastating North Indian cyclone season. It saw a total of seven cyclonic storms, of which three developed into severe cyclonic storms. The Bay of Bengal was more active than the Arabian Sea during 1970, with all of the three severe cyclonic storms in the season forming there. Unusually, none of the storms in the Arabian Sea made landfall this year. The most significant storm of the season was the Bhola cyclone, which formed in the Bay of Bengal and hit Bangladesh on November 12. The storm killed at least 500,000, making it the deadliest tropical cyclone in recorded history. The season was also the deadliest tropical cyclone season globally, with 500,805 fatalities, mostly due to the aforementioned Bhola cyclone.

Hurricane Hugo was a powerful tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread destruction across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. The eleventh tropical cyclone, eighth named storm, sixth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, Hugo arose from a cluster of thunderstorms near Cape Verde on September 10, 1989. This cluster coalesced into a tropical depression and strengthened into Tropical Storm Hugo as it tracked west across the Atlantic Ocean for several days. On September 13, Hugo became a hurricane and continued to intensify through September 15 when its sustained winds peaked at 160 mph (255 km/h), making it a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Between September 17 and 21, Hugo made landfall on Guadeloupe, Saint Croix, Puerto Rico, and lastly South Carolina, with major hurricane strength winds. The storm weakened inland and accelerated north over the Eastern United States, transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on September 23 before it was last noted in the far northern Atlantic on September 25.

Hugo left extensive damage in its wake, causing 61 deaths and $11 billion (equivalent to $28 billion in 2024) in damage, which at the time, made it the costliest tropical cyclone on record worldwide. Guadeloupe bore the brunt of the storm in the Leeward Islands. Three thousand houses were unroofed, contributing to the displacement of 35,000 people from their homes. Hugo was Montserrat's costliest hurricane on record and brought down the island's entire power grid. Ninety percent of homes on the island suffered significant to total roof loss after the island was struck by the eyewall. The hurricane's impacts continued into the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, causing over $1 billion in damage. Wind gusts up to 168 mph (270 km/h) were measured in Saint Croix, where property damage exceeded $500 million with over 90 percent of buildings damaged; three people were killed on the island. Widespread damage occurred in Puerto Rico and much of the island suffered power and water service failures. Eight people were killed in Puerto Rico and nearly 28,000 people were left homeless. In the mainland United States, coastal South Carolina was hit by record setting storm surge heights, reaching 20.2 ft (6.2 m) near McClellanville. The surge and strong winds wrought extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure across South Carolina, and caused 13 deaths. Flood and wind impacts followed Hugo across much of the Eastern United States into Eastern Canada.

The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, was a catastrophic tropical cyclone that became the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. The strongest storm of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season, it left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the United States; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths 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. As of 2025, it remains the fourth deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, behind Hurricane Fifi of 1974. In addition to the number killed, the storm destroyed about 7,000 buildings of all uses in Galveston, which included 3,636 demolished homes; every dwelling in the city suffered some degree of damage. The hurricane 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. The hurricane alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead. In response to the storm, three 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.

On August 27, 1900, a ship east of the Windward Islands detected a tropical cyclone, the first observed that year. The system proceeded to move steadily west-northwestward and entered the northeastern Caribbean on August 30. It made landfall in the Dominican Republic as a weak tropical storm on September 2. It weakened slightly while crossing Hispaniola, before re-emerging into the Caribbean Sea later that day. On September 3, the cyclone struck modern-day Santiago de Cuba Province and then slowly drifted along the southern coast of Cuba. Upon reaching the Gulf of Mexico on September 6, the storm strengthened into a hurricane. Significant intensification followed and the system peaked as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (235 km/h) on September 8. Early on the next day, it made landfall to the south of Houston. The cyclone weakened quickly after moving inland and fell to tropical storm intensity late on September 9. The storm turned east-northeastward and became extratropical over Iowa on September 11. The extratropical system strengthened while accelerating across the Midwestern United States, New England, and Eastern Canada before reaching the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on September 13. After striking Newfoundland later that day, the extratropical storm entered the far North Atlantic Ocean and weakened, with the remnants last observed near Iceland on September 15.

The Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) is a tropical cyclone intensity scale that classifies hurricanes—which in the Western Hemisphere are tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms—into five categories distinguished by the intensities of their sustained winds. This measuring system was formerly known as the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, or SSHS.

To be classified as a hurricane, a tropical cyclone must have one-minute-average maximum sustained winds at 10 m (33 ft) above the surface of at least 74 mph (64 kn, 119 km/h; Category 1). The highest classification in the scale, Category 5, consists of storms with sustained winds of at least 157 mph (137 kn, 252 km/h). The classifications can provide some indication of the potential damage and flooding a hurricane will cause upon landfall.

The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season was the final year in a string of three consecutive very active seasons since 2010, with 19 tropical storms. The 2012 season was also a costly one in terms of property damage, mostly due to Hurricane Sandy. The season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30, dates that conventionally delimit the period during each year in which most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Ocean. However, Alberto, the first named system of the year, developed on May 19 – the earliest date of formation since Subtropical Storm Andrea in 2007. A second tropical cyclone, Beryl, developed later that month. This was the first occurrence of two pre-season named storms in the Atlantic basin since 1951. It moved ashore in North Florida on May 29 with winds of 65 mph (105 km/h), making it the strongest pre-season storm to make landfall in the Atlantic basin. This season marked the first time since 2009 where no tropical cyclones formed in July. Another record was set by Hurricane Nadine later in the season; the system became the fourth-longest-lived tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic, with a total duration of 22.25 days. The final storm to form, Tony, dissipated on October 25, and the season came to a close when Hurricane Sandy became extratropical on October 29.

Pre-season forecasts by the Colorado State University (CSU) called for a below average season, with 10 named storms, 4 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its first outlook on May 24, predicting a total of 9–15 named storms, 4–8 hurricanes, and 1–3 major hurricanes; both agencies noted the possibility of an El Niño, which limits tropical cyclone activity. Following two pre-season storms, the CSU updated their forecast to 13 named storms, 5 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes, while the NOAA upped their forecast numbers to 12–17 named storms, 5–8 hurricanes, and 2–3 major hurricanes on August 9. Despite this, activity far surpassed the predictions.