"The 10 largest recorded hurricanes in history"

Hurricanes cause great devastation every time they hit, so then, we tend to think of the biggest hurricanes as the ones that cause the most damage

However, hurricanes do not have to be massive to cause great losses in life and property

Hurricanes have been with humanity forever, but we have not always had the ability to understand or record their strength and size

So our records on the biggest storms may be incomplete

In this list of the largest hurricanes, we will include records for all cyclonic storms including typhoons and will judge size based on the radius of the storm, not damage or wind speed

Hurricane Yolanda

Source: From NASA – [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons

While Yolanda, also known as Typhoon Haiyan, is the smallest on this list, it is one of the strongest storms ever

It is by far the deadliest storm to hit the Philippines, accounting for more than 6,000 deaths and two billion dollars in damage in that country

Yolanda also caused great damage in many other nations in the region, as well as in South China and Vietnam in Southeast Asia

Typhoon Usagi

This storm was first identified as a tropical depression off the coast of the Philippines in early September 2013

In three days, the storm formed a 17-mile-wide eye and was upgraded to a category 5 hurricane before making landfall on the Chinese coast

The storm caused a total of $43 billion in the Philippines and China

There were 33 deaths in China, with thousands of people made homeless by the storm and billions of dollars worth of crops destroyed

Usagi caused about 30 deaths

The Morakot typhoon

Type of storm: Category 1 typhoon

Source: NASA [Public Domain]

Morakot was one of the costliest and deadliest typhoons to hit Taiwan

Its wind speed of 90 mph may not seem that dangerous

However, it was the slow pace of the eye of the storm that allowed the storm to cause so much damage

More than 100 feet of rain fell into the country’s waterways, causing extensive flooding

The storm also affected other Southeast Asian countries, including China and Japan

In all, Morakot caused more than $6 billion (not adjusted for inflation) in damages

Hurricane Karl

Source: NOAA via Wikimedia Commons

Karl was a large tropical storm of hurricane force forming off the coast of Cape Verde

It eventually became a Cat 3 storm with peak sustained winds of 145 mph

The storm weakened to a Cat 1 hurricane before making landfall in the Faroe Islands

Karl was not responsible for any recorded damages or deaths

Karl is the sixth largest Atlantic hurricane ever

Hurricane Nicole

Storm Type: Major Cat 4 Hurricane

Source: NASA via Wikimedia Commons

Nicole’s path made landfall only on the island of Bermuda, where it caused substantial damage

This does not mean that the storm did not affect other areas

In the United States, the huge waves created by the storm affect the life of ocean animals on the beaches of South Florida

In Bermuda, the storm destroyed homes, farms and valuable commercial coastal properties on the island

Storm watchers were far more concerned about the most violent storm, Hurricane Matthew, which hit around the same time as Nicole

Hurricane Lili

Storm Type: Major Category 3 Hurricane

Beginning as a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico and ending after it hit London, this broad and slow-moving storm was responsible for substantial flood damage on two continents

The storm caused deaths in several countries of Central America, Cuba and the Bahamas

Some aid to the victims of the storm in Cuba caused an international controversy

Hurricane Igor

Source: NOAA [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons

Fortunately for the people of the Caribbean and the United States, Igor weakened from a category 4 storm to a category 3 before entering the Gulf region

Igor moved up the East Coast of the United States after causing a relatively small amount of damage to Bermuda

The flooding caused about 200 million USD in damage in that area of the country

Hurricane Sandy

Storm type: Category 3 hurricane

Olsen-New Jersey National Guard [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons

Sandy is the third most destructive hurricane to ever hit the United States

The wind and rain caused destruction costing nearly $70 billion and the loss of more than 200 lives

The carnage began as Sandy, still a tropical storm, hit the Caribbean Sea From there, he ran along the East Coast of the United States

In total, 24 states received damage from the storm

An arctic front caused the heavy rain produced by Sandy to turn into snow

Hurricane Olga

Storm type: Cat 1 hurricane

Source: NASA

Olga is the largest Atlantic hurricane when measuring the diameter of gale force winds

It was not a particularly strong storm, only reaching category 1 in strength

It did not cause any personal or commercial damage on the ground because it never made landfall

Olga vacillated between hurricane force and tropical storm force, hitting a few boats with high waves, but causing only physical damage to one vessel (which was reported)

Olga was the last storm of the 2001 hurricane season

Type of typhoon

Storm Type: Category 5 Super Typhoon

Highest wind speed: 190 mph

Source: By GMS-1 Satellite – [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons

Typhoon Tip is the largest storm by diameter in world history

The storm is also the second most intense Pacific typhoon ever

The storm’s winds cover the Western United States from the Pacific Coast to the western border of Missouri

Tip formed over the Marshall Islands near the Philippines

It gained strength as it moved over the ocean, eventually reaching a category 5 with extremely violent winds

As it approached Japan, the storm weakened

However, it also caused significant damage to Okinawa and Tokyo

The storm was violent enough that it caused a Chinese ship to break in half