Hurricane Harvey vs. Hurricane Matthew: 7 ways the two storms compare to one another

Hurricane Harvey is likely to be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and its devastation is still unraveling.

With ubiquitous imagery of Hurricane Harvey’s destruction of Texas splashing across television, internet and print, it is impossible not to think of Hurricane Matthew to reference in our minds while grasping the devastation as the only storm we’ve experienced that compares (click here for ways you can help Harvey victims from Beaufort County).

Both storms were powerful, damaging and devastating, but how do they compare? Here’s seven ways to break down the storms.

Power

When Harvey made landfall in Texas last Friday night, it did so as a Category 4 hurricane, the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Charlie in 2004. By comparison, Matthew was a Category 5 at one point, but was a Category 2 in the process of weakening to a Category 1 when it moved past the Lowcountry coast last October.

That is another important area of difference. While Harvey plowed directly into the Texas Gulf Coast, Matthew, for all the damage it caused, gave Beaufort County a glancing blow, never making landfall here, though it did come ashore further north in the state.

Movement

While Hurricane Matthew continued moving after it made landfall, Harvey hovered over the same area for days after the storm hit the shore. The National Weather Service actually described Harvey as a stationary object on Saturday, and it spent days wandering Texas at speeds slower than the average person can walk. It is now finally moving north-northeast out of the area at 8 mph.

As Matthew passed off the coast of Beaufort County, it was moving north-northeast at 12 mph.

That means that unlike Matthew, which would move on after devastating an area, Harvey pummeled the same parts of the Gulf Coast for nearly a week.

Wind Speed

When Harvey collided with the Texas coast it was carrying sustained winds of around 130 mph. By comparison, the highest wind speed recorded on Hilton Head Island during Matthew was 88 mph. That 42 mph difference translates to more potential to cause damage and wreak havoc.

Rain

Matthew dropped over 14 inches of rain on the South Carolina coast as it came through. Harvey dropped significantly more, with nearly 52 inches falling in some parts of Houston according to the New York Times. As Harvey leaves the area, five to 10 more inches might be possible.

This has caused catastrophic flooding to a level where major roadways look more like canals, with fleets of watercraft taking the place of cars and thousands of people needing rescue, MSNBC reports.

Matthew did bring flooding to Beaufort County as it passed, but those in Harvey’s path experienced much worse.

Duration

Harvey savaged the same parts of southeast Texas for days, and its effects are still being felt as it moves very gradually to the northeast, making a second landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border, bringing its torrential rains to an area that still remembers Hurricane Katrina.

Harvey first became a tropical storm on Aug. 17, then fell apart as it passed through the Caribbean on its way over the Yucatan Peninsula. It regained its tropical storm status early on Aug. 24 and then rapidly picked up intensity, becoming a Category 4 storm before making its first landfall in the U.S. on Aug. 25. Since that time it has remained at tropical storm strength, and is currently sporting winds of 45 mph.

It is expected to weaken to a tropical depression at some point on Wednesday, which it will remain until late Friday. All told, from first classification as a tropical cyclone to dissipation, Harvey will have lasted for 16 days. Nearly half of those days will have been spent over or near the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Matthew, meanwhile, lasted for 12 days, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9 of 2016. Of those 12 days, it spent less than one in the immediate vicinity of Beaufort County.

Damage

This is an area where the full picture is still emerging for Harvey. The key factors, though, are that Harvey was a stronger storm than Matthew, that it was packing more powerful winds when it made landfall, and that it has only recently began to appreciably move from the area it first hit.

Matthew only grazed the Lowcountry, and in a weakened state, but it caused $51.6 million in damage throughout the county, destroying homes and property, and displacing people.

We do not know the full extent of the damage Harvey has done, and it might be a while before we do, but AccuWeather is predicting that it will end up being the most costly disaster in U.S. history, with an estimated economic impact of of $160 billion by the time the storm dissipates.

“Harvey is still unfolding, and there is still a heavy rainfall threat, and they are still looking at damage,” said Emily Timte, meteorologist with the NWS in Charleston. “It is kind of hard to compare the two systems right now.”

Death toll

It will also take time to know the precise number of fatalities Harvey will claim, though the New York Times is reporting 30 confirmed deaths so far.

Matthew’s death toll was enormous, with 585 people dying as a direct result of the storm. Over 500 of those deaths occurred in Haiti according to an NHC report, while 34 died in the U.S., four of those in South Carolina, and none in Beaufort County.

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Hurricane Harvey vs. Hurricane Matthew: 7 ways the two storms compare to one another."