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    Top five devastating hurricanes

    With the 2014 hurricane season underway, on Wednesday Japan faced one of the mightiest typhoons the Western Pacific has seen this year. As Typhoon Neoguri churned towards the main islands, people prepared for 80-mph winds with gusts up to 114-mph Wednesday morning.

    Though weaker than expected, the cyclone dumped the equivalent of three months of rain in two days and left widespread damage in its wake. Forecasters still anticipate it to turn into a Category 5 hurricane by the end of its run.

    Typhoon Neoguri
    (Source: McClatchy-Tribune Information Services) Typhoon Neoguri rages across the main islands of Japan with heavy wind and rain.

    However, Typhoon Neoguri isn’t the only incredible and catastrophic storm to strike in recent history. Here are five other hurricanes that also peaked to devastating levels.

    1. Hurricane Sandy: Destroying nearly 650,000 homes and killing up to 180 people, this Category 5 cyclone swooped across the tropics and the East Coast on October 2012. Nicknamed “Superstorm Sandy”, the hurricane caused $65 billion in damages and is the second costliest storm in U.S. history.
    2. Hurricane Mitch: This slow-moving hurricane is the second-deadliest hurricane in history and the worst to hit the Western Hemisphere in over 200 years. It cost 11,000 lives in October 1998 as it struck Honduras with mudslides and deadly flooding. It took over $5 billion to recover the destroyed crops and country’s infrastructure.
    3. Hurricane Katrina: This Category 3 hurricane shook up the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. Widespread floods and 100 to 140-mph winds overwhelmed communities in minutes, causing around $100 billion in damage. Thousands of people were uprooted by this disaster and many areas are still recovering from its effects.
    4. Galveston Texas Hurricane: The morning of September 8, 1900 welcomed one of the deadliest storms in American history. With an estimated 8,000 casualties, the Galveston Texas Hurricane was measured as Category 4 and reshaped the Gulf Coast with high floods and constant downpour. The devastation changed Galveston forever.
    5. The Great Hurricane of 1780: Despite being nearly 200 years old, this hurricane was considered the deadliest hurricane of all time, killing up to 22,000 people. With winds reaching up to 200 mph, The Great Hurricane ripped through the Caribbean and left barely any survivors to tell the story.

    Every year, countries around the globe suffer from raging storms that cost billions of lives and dollars and Typhoon Neoguri could become another. Whether or not Typhoon Neoguri makes this list, the size of this Category 4 hurricane is impressive and its sluggish movement could still leave a giant footprint of destruction in the days to come.

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