Of 12 storms, Lili was the worst

The 2002 Atlantic hurricane season produced 12 named storms, four of which became hurricanes. Two of those were major hurricanes, a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Final damage estimates are not yet available.

TROPICAL STORM ARTHUR (July 14-16): 60 mph. Became a tropical depression by the North Carolina coast. Strengthened briefly into a tropical storm before dissipating into a low pressure system that sped off into the north Atlantic off Canada.

TROPICAL STORM BERTHA (Aug. 4-9): 40 mph. Formed in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Went ashore over southeastern Louisiana. Immediately weakened to a tropical depression that brought 5 to 10 inches of rain in southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. One death reported in the Florida Panhandle due to heavy surf.

TROPICAL STORM CRISTOBAL (Aug. 5-8): 50 mph. Formed in the Atlantic. Never threatened land before heading farther out into the Atlantic and dissipating.

TROPICAL STORM DOLLY (Aug. 29-Sept. 4): 65 mph. Formed in the far eastern Atlantic. Churned harmlessly far from land, a danger only to shipping.

TROPICAL STORM EDOUARD (Sept. 1-6): 65 mph. Formed in the Atlantic off Jacksonville. Came ashore just north of Daytona Beach, promptly weakened to a tropical depression. Brought rains as it crossed Florida and dissipated in the Gulf of Mexico.

TROPICAL STORM FAY (Sept. 5-7): 60 mph. Formed in the Gulf of Mexico south of Galveston, Texas. Moved inland over the central Texas coast near Palacios and dissipated. The system's remnants dropped heavy rains on southern Texas and northeast Mexico for several more days, bringing flooding.

HURRICANE GUSTAV (Sept. 8-12): 90 mph. Formed in the Atlantic 550 miles south southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. Moved to the northwest, then north, then raced north northeast before making landfall in eastern Nova Scotia. Caused one death in high surf along the South Carolina coast.

TROPICAL STORM HANNA (Sept. 11-14): 50 mph. Formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Moved over southeastern Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River and reached land at the Mississippi border with Alabama, bringing rough waters to the north central gulf coast and more than 14 inches of rain in southwest Georgia. Three people died in heavy surf.

HURRICANE ISIDORE (Sept. 14-26): 125 mph. Formed south southeast of Jamaica, moved slowly past Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and western Cuba before crossing the Gulf of Mexico west to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, where it hit as a Category 3 hurricane. Isidore weakened over land, then headed north through the gulf before making landfall in Louisiana west of Grand Isle as a tropical storm. Four deaths were attributed to Isidore in the United States.

TROPICAL STORM JOSEPHINE (Sept. 17-19): 40 mph. Formed in the Atlantic, 800 miles northeast of Bermuda. Dissipated while heading northeast farther out into the north Atlantic.

HURRICANE KYLE (Sept. 20-Oct. 12): 85 mph. Lasted 22 days to become the third longest lived tropical cyclone, behind Ginger in 1971 and Inga in 1969. Became a tropical storm four times. Formed in the north central Atlantic 255 miles east southeast of Bermuda. Drifted erratically southwest for several days, then headed west. Off the Florida coast, Kyle turned to the north and northeast and made landfall near Myrtle Beach, S.C., with 45 mph winds, then passed near Cape Hatteras a day later before becoming extratropical on the same north northeast track.

HURRICANE LILI (Sept. 21-Oct. 4): 145 mph. Formed in the tropical Atlantic. A mother and her three children were killed in a mudslide in St. Vincent, and four others were reported killed in Jamaica. Lili later hit western Cuba as a Category 2 hurricane before it moved north into the Gulf of Mexico and reached top winds of 145 mph. Lili weakened before hitting Louisiana with 10 inches of rain, storm surges and 100 mph winds. It damaged thousands of homes and knocked out power to nearly half a million people. Damage estimated at $700-million.

Source: National Hurricane Center

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