CAT-5! The Tropics At Their Worst Trivia Quiz | History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Back in 1935, hurricanes didn't have assigned names. The first Saffir-Simpson Category 5 to strike the USA mainland had to be called something, so they named it after the holiday it obliterated in the Florida Keys. What is it still called?

Answer: Great Labor Day Storm

In a fearsome display of "explosive intensification", The Great Labor Day Storm went from a minimal hurricane in the western Bahamas, to the strongest ever to strike any US state to date (May 2024). Winds are estimated to have reached 185 miles per hour/296 kilometers per hour, in less than 18 hours.

When it roared ashore on Upper Matacumbe Key, the winds and storm surge were enough to roll all but the engine of an evacuation train off the rails..and then rip up the rails. The Overseas Railway to Key West was permanently cut. Well more than 200 bodies were recovered, and nearly as many people were permanently missing and presumed dead.

2. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian and its 175 mile/280 kilometer per hour winds had Florida holding its breath for two days. Florida got lucky, some of our island neighbors did not. The Category 5 beast stalled over one island for a full day. Do you know which island?

Answer: Grand Bahama

It took a day or two for coherent reports to start coming in from Grand Bahama, and when they did, they were heart-wrenching. Nearly miraculously, only about 75 people died on Grand Bahama, but nearly 70 thousand were homeless, and food and water were scarce.

The Turks and Caicos Islands were also mauled a few days earlier. As of this writing (May 2024), the islands are still recovering, but the tourism that means so much economically to the area has returned, and things are looking up after the worst disaster in the history of the Bahamas.

While Florida is pretty friendly with the bulk of the Caribbean island nations, the other three listed really aren't close enough to count as "neighbors".

3. Hurricanes in the western Pacific Ocean are called typhoons. Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 was called Typhoon Yolanda in the country it hit the hardest. In that nation well over 6000 people were killed by 195 mile per hour/312 kilometer per hour winds, huge storm surges and rain induced mudslides. Entire villages in Leyte and Samar were destroyed. What country was Yolanda's victim?

Answer: The Philippines

Super Typhoon Yolanda did more than 6 billion dollars (US) damage in the Philippines. Along with the already staggering death toll, thousands remain missing. Haiyan/Yolanda was the strongest tropical cyclone by wind speed ever to make landfall, although a few storms in the open Pacific have been even stronger. Yolanda is generally regarded as the single worst disaster in Philippine history.

4. Before hurricanes were assigned names, parts of the Caribbean traditionally used the name of the saint whose feast day the storm arrived on. Sometimes, a date and name did double duty, like the feast of St Philip on 13 September. Huracan San Felipe Segundo (II) arrived in 1928, and as of May 2024 remains the only Category 5 to strike the island that both San Felipes hit. Can you pick the island from the list?

Answer: Puerto Rico

San Felipe Segundo is St. Philip the Second in Spanish. Puerto Rico is the only Spanish speaking island listed. San Felipe II had 160 mile/256 kilometer per hour winds when it struck Puerto Rico, damage was great, and over 400 lives lost. Curiously, the storm was far deadlier as a Category 4. Over 1200 people perished on the French island of Martinique two days before San Felipe II reached Puerto Rico. Three days after Puerto Rico, the still Category 4 storm hit Florida near the Palm Beaches, tracking across the state.

The 140 mile/225 kilometer per hour winds emptied Lake Okeechobee across its southern bank leading to a Florida death toll of over 2500. The Okeechobee Hurricane as the storm is known in Florida remains the state's greatest natural disaster after nearly a century.

5. In 1969, the only Saffir-Simpson Category 5 hurricane to strike the USA mainland outside of Florida, howled ashore in Mississippi with winds of 175 miles/280 kilometers per hour. Ironically, this blowhard shared its name with the tubercular heroine of a 1936 film starring Greta Garbo! Can you name the hurricane/movie?

Answer: Camille

Hurricane Camille thundered ashore the night of 17 August 1969. While the winds were mighty, it was the storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico that nearly wiped the coasts of Mississippi and neighboring Alabama clean. The wall of water reached 25 feet/7.5 meters deep in places. Few waterfront structures survived, and more than 250 people did not.

6. In the Indian Ocean, a hurricane is called by the rather generic term of cyclone. The term may be generic, but the storms are not, often ranking among the deadliest tropical systems. In May 2023, the evacuation of almost three-quarters of a million people in Bangladesh and Myanmar kept the death toll down in a cyclone that sounded like it came from Starbucks. The storm was more bitter than the flavored coffee it shared a name with. Can you select the name?

Answer: Mocha

Earl Grey? Even the worst Florida Man knows that's tea! Americano isn't flavored it's diluted. Hazelnut is the distractor.

Mocha struck near the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar, with both countries seeing significant damage from winds, surge, and flooding. The entire Myanmar state of Rakhine was declared a disaster zone. The mass evacuations doubtless saved countless lives. It could have been much, much worse than the roughly 460 who did perish.

7. As I write (May 2024), the most recent Saffir-Simpson Category 5 hurricane to strike the US mainland nearly deleted the town of Mexico Beach, Florida, from the map. Despite 160 mile/255 kilometer per hour winds and storm surges that caused $20 billion in damages, fewer than 50 people lost their lives. Perhaps the Florida panhandle has a guardian angel. This devil of a hurricane carried an angel's name, to boot. Can you guess which angel?

Answer: Michael

Michael displayed one of the clearest hallmarks of a Category 5 hurricane, an area swept almost free of structures, trees, and even grass. Such was the fate of Mexico Beach. Some five years after Michael, Mexico Beach is still recovering. There are hopeful signs, chief among them the display of classic, stubborn to the point of outright intransigence, Florida resilience. I've seen it more than once in Florida - Mexico Beach will be back!

8. Saffir-Simpson Category 5 hurricanes can occur in the eastern Pacific Ocean, too. In 2023, a tiny, feeble looking tropical storm named Otis suddenly turned into a tiny, but vicious monster. It smacked a famous Mexican resort city in the state of Guerrero with winds approaching 160 miles/256; kilometers per hour. Can you identify the resort that endured Otis?

Answer: Acapulco

Only Acapulco is on the Pacific.

The spectacularly explosive intensification of Hurricane Otis is among the most rapid on record, going from a weak tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in little more than a day, reaching Category 5 status less than five hours before landfall. The US National Hurricane Center bluntly called the situation "a nightmare scenario". Thanks in part to the small dimensions of Hurricane Otis, the death toll was less than 60 people. I've spoken favorably of Florida resilience, so I need to give Mexico its due. They are still repairing damage in many areas, but Acapulco is open for business!

9. Called SuperTyphoon Polly in the Philippines was known by another name on the Asian mainland. While nothing is funny about a storm with 190 mile/315 kilometer per hour winds, the odd mindset of a Floridian talking hurricanes takes hold, and suggests that the storm's story could be headlined by tying its other name to Margaret Mitchell's Civil War novel. What would the title be?

Answer: "Goni With the Wind"

Goni means "swan" in Korean. Polly/Goni (Oh, Lord, another one!) first came ashore in the Philippine island province of Catanduanes, and transited the country, causing over a billion US dollars worth of damage mostly from storm surge and rain induced mudslides.

When a mudslide occurs on the slopes of a volcano, it's called a lahar, and Polly caused one on Mount Mayon, badly damaging a neighboring village. Fortunately, Polly's death toll was relatively light, at around thirty people.

10. You know a hurricane is something special when it makes the National Hurricane Center move to a new location! The 1992 Hurricane Season got off to a terrifying start when the first named storm became a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 miles/256 kilometers per hour. What was the name of the hurricane that ran the National Hurricane Center out of Coral Gables, and nearly leveled Homestead, Florida?

Answer: Andrew

Hurricane names are issued in alphabetical order, and Andrew is the only "A" name listed. In 1992, the National Hurricane Center's building on the campus of the University of Miami was damaged fairly seriously. This accelerated the plans to move to a larger, purpose built facility somewhat further inland at Florida International University. The NHC's new home (since 1995) is designed to withstand major hurricanes.

The most descriptive statement I've heard about the destruction caused by Category 5 hurricanes was uttered by a distraught helicopter pilot after a damage assessment overflight of part of Homestead. When asked how bad it was, his reply was blunt..."There's no there there anymore".

Homestead is back...but it remembers.

Source: Author Jdeanflpa

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ponycargirl before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

CAT-5! The Tropics At Their Worst Quiz

Tell a native Floridian that a Saffir-Simpson Category 5 hurricane (a CAT-5 in Floridaspeak) is coming and watch us blanch beneath our tans. In order to explain why this happens, here are 10 storms that came ashore around the world at that strength.

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