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Associated Press

Hurricane Harvey has reached land, securing its place in history as the most furious hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Hurricane Carla in 1961. Carla killed dozens and destroyed nearly 2,000 homes.
Here’s a look at Hurricane Carla and some of the most damaging hurricanes to hit the United States since 2000:
Carla
Starting as a tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea on September 3, 1961, Carla steadily gained momentum until it was labelled a major hurricane four days later. After a few days, it became a Category 5, only to be downgraded to a Category 4 by September 11, when it made landfall on Matagorda Island, 61-kilometre barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast, according to the National Weather Service.
It weakened to a tropical storm after its eye hit Port O’Connor and Port Lavaca in Texas. The hurricane also impacted parts of Louisiana, Oklahoma and Illinois.
In Texas, the highest winds were about 185kph but sustained winds in some parts hit 273kph.
The hurricane spawned 18 tornadoes, including 10 in Louisiana and eight in Texas. Between Carla and the subsequent tornadoes, the NWS said 46 people were killed and more than 450 were injured.
Total damage was estimated at US$2.36 billion with Texas suffering more than US$400 million in damage. In Texas, 1,915 homes were destroyed.

Katrina
Katrina crossed the tip of Florida and then swept into the Gulf of Mexico and over Louisiana and Mississippi, causing more than 1,800 deaths and an estimated $108 billion in damage and becoming the costliest hurricane in US history, according to the National Hurricane Centre. Most of the fatalities occurred in Louisiana, where thousands of homes and businesses in New Orleans were destroyed by strong winds and flooding. Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Alabama also reported deaths in the 2005 hurricane, which left about 3 million people without power, some for weeks at a time.
Sandy
The pounding winds and storm surges of Sandy, dubbed a “superstorm” since it was extratropical by the time it made landfall, devastated the coastlines of New York and New Jersey in late October 2012, damaging at least 650,000 homes and causing about 8.5 million power outages, according to the Hurricane Centre. US officials preliminarily tallied at least US$50 billion in damage, though some sources cite around US$75 billion. There were at least 147 deaths directly tied to storm conditions, as well as a number of indirect fatalities linked to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning and falling trees during the clean-up effort, the centre said. Repairs to homes and infrastructure continue today.

Ike
Ike’s storm surges raised water levels across nearly the entire US Gulf coast when it hit in 2008, causing almost US$30 billion in damage, mostly in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. At least 20 people were killed, according to the Hurricane Centre. Waves battered the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and almost 3 million people in those state lost power. Winds uprooted trees, and a number of homes were damaged.
Wilma
Coming near the end of 2005’s extraordinary hurricane season, Wilma caused 98 per cent of South Florida to lose electricity, with experts at the Hurricane Centre attributing widespread damage in the state to its large core. Trees were downed, windows shattered, roofs torn up and crops lost. All told, the US reported more than US$21 billion in damage, as well as five deaths.

Ivan
Ivan’s storm surge in 2004 caused as much as a 400-metre section of an interstate bridge to collapse in Florida, which along with Alabama was among the hardest-hit states, according to the Hurricane Centre. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed. Debris piled up after the storm stretched for more than three-quarters of a mile and were as tall as seven stories. Almost 2 million people experienced power outages. Ivan killed 25 people and caused more than US$18 billion in damage, according to the centre.
Rita
Rita, one of the strongest hurricanes of the record-breaking 2005 season, prompted one of the largest-scale evacuations in US history, with more than 2 million people estimated to have fled the Texas coast, according to the Hurricane Centre. Coming just weeks after Katrina, Rita’s wind and rain caused US$12 billion in damage and killed 62 people, including many nursing home residents whose bus caught fire as they fled the storm, the centre said. Nearly every structure in some coastal areas of southwestern Louisiana was destroyed, some entirely swept away.


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Hurricane Harvey

How Hurricane Harvey compares to the biggest US storms since 2000

This photo made available by Nasa shows Hurricane Harvey over Texas, seen from the International Space Station. Photo: AP

RNPS IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2012 - The extensive damage to an amusement park roller coaster in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy is seen in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, November 13, 2012. Residents of New York and New Jersey were told to prepare for a long recovery from Superstorm Sandy, as thousands of people grappled with cleaning up their properties, the extended lack of electricity and gasoline shortages nine days after the storm. REUTERS/Tom Mihalek (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2005, file photo, residents wait on a rooftop to be rescued from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Dozens of lawsuits seeking damages from the federal government for Hurricane Katrina-related levee failures and flooding in the New Orleans area are over. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. has dismissed the cases. The move comes more than a year after a federal appeals court overturned his ruling that held the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable for flooding caused by lax maintenance of a shipping channel. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, Pool, File)

Private planes are seen heaped together after hangars collapsed at the Boca Raton Airport Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005. Some commercial air travel in South Florida resumed Wednesday after being halted for much of the week because of damage caused by Hurricane Wilma. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Fears of ‘catastrophic’ flooding as deadly Hurricane Harvey lashes Texas

Latest forecasts show that Harvey, now downgraded to tropical storm status, will hover along the shore for the next four or five days, dumping massive amounts of rain

ROCKPORT, TX - AUGUST 26: An airplane is seen flipped on its roof at the Aransas County Airport after Hurricane Harvey passed through on August 26, 2017 in Rockport, Texas. Harvey made landfall shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, just north of Port Aransas as a Category 4 storm and is being reported as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since Wilma in 2005. Forecasts call for as much as 30 inches of rain to fall in the next few days Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Damaged boats in a multi-level storage facility are seen following passage of Hurricane Harvey at Rockport, Texas on August 26, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MARK RALSTON

This photo made available by NASA shows Hurricane Harvey over Texas on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, seen from the International Space Station. (Jack Fischer/NASA via AP)

A damaged car sits outside a heavily damaged apartment complex in Rockport, Texas, after Hurricane Harvey struck the area, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. (Courtney Sacco/Corpus Christi Caller-Times via AP)

Lisa Rehr holds her four-year old son Maximus, after they lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, as they await to be evacuated with their belongings from Rockport, Texas, U.S. August 26, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

A firefighter searches for survivors at an apartment complex in Rockport, Texas, as Hurricane Harvey hits the state's coast. Photo: The Washington Post

‘Write name on arm to identify your body’: Texas mayor’s warning to city residents who chose to ride out Hurricane Harvey

Rockport, the Texas city where Hurricane Harvey came ashore, a mangled ghost town after powerful Category 4 storm hit

Robert Zbrane stands next to his sunken boat, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, in Rockport, Texas. Zbrane tried to ride out Hurricane Harvey until his boat was damaged and sunk. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

ROCKPORT, TX - AUGUST 26: A destroyed laundrymat is seen after Hurricane Harvey passed through on August 26, 2017 in Rockport, Texas. Harvey made landfall shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, just north of Port Aransas as a Category 4 storm and is being reported as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since Wilma in 2005. Forecasts call for as much as 30 inches of rain to fall in the next few days. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Toppled boats hang in the debris of a boat storage facility that was damaged by Hurricane Harvey, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, in Rockport, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Steve Culver cries with his dog Otis in Rockport, Texas. Photo: AFP

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