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5 Notorious June Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

Early Season Can Deliver

Admittedly, June is not the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, by a long shot. Only 6% of named storms have formed in this first "official" month of the season since 1950.

(MORE: What's Typical in June)

However, that's not to say June hasn't had notorious, destructive tropical cyclones.

Let's kick off the list with a record-setting early U.S. hurricane.

Hurricane Alma (1966)

While not an especially destructive hurricane, Alma makes our list as the record earliest-in-season U.S. hurricane landfall (records dating to 1851), coming ashore along Florida's Apalachee Bay, on June 9, 1966.

Owing to Alma's landfall location in a sparsely-populated part of northern Florida, impact was rather minor. Storm surge flooding and wind damage was observed in the Lower Keys. A gust to 125 mph was clocked in the Dry Tortugas.

Next up is a recent hurricane that became a flooding headache.

Hurricane Alex (2010)

The 2010 season got off to a roaring start. Hurricane Alex was the strongest June Atlantic Basin hurricane as measured by central pressure in 53 years and was the first June hurricane in the basin in 15 years.

Alex's legacy, though, was flooding. Up to 35 inches of rain lead to major flooding in Monterrey, Mexico. Alex's remnants lead to major flooding on the Rio Grande River.

(PHOTOS: Monterrey flooding | Rio Grande flooding)

We mentioned Alex was the strongest June Atlantic hurricane in 53 years, which brings us to our next notorious June hurricane.

Audrey roared ashore near the Texas and Louisiana border as a Category 3 hurricane, claiming at least 416 lives in the U.S., the seventh deadliest U.S. tropical cyclone on record. Only Hurricane Katrina (2005) claimed more lives since Audrey. A storm surge up to 12.4 feet was measured in southwest Louisiana. Add in waves as high as 20 feet on top of the storm surge, and you can see why Audrey was so deadly. According to David Roth from NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, 90-95 percent of buildings in Cameron and Lower Vermillion Parishes were damaged beyond repair. Over 1.6 million acres of land were flooded by the storm surge in tandem with water backing up along rivers in southwest Louisiana. (Photo: Shel Hershorn/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — (Shel Hershorn/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hurricane Audrey (1957)

The only Category 4 June hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, Audrey roared ashore along the Texas and Louisiana border, claiming at least 416 lives in the U.S., the 7th deadliest U.S. tropical cyclone on record. Only Hurricane Katrina (2005) claimed more lives since Audrey.

A storm surge up to 12.4 feet was measured in southwest Louisiana. Add in waves as high as 20 feet on top of the storm surge, and you can see why Audrey was so deadly. According to David Roth from NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, 90-95% of buildings in Cameron and Lower Vermillion Parishes were damaged beyond repair. Over 1.6 million acres of land were flooded by the storm surge in tandem with water backing up along rivers in southwest Louisiana.

Let's head just a little bit west for a much less intense, but inundating June storm.

Tropical Storm Allison (2001)

The system that was "Allison" inundated the Houston metro area in two rounds. The first soaking June 5-6, associated with Tropical Storm Allison's initial landfall didn't give a hint of anything out of the ordinary. It was the second deluge June 8-9 with Allison's remnant low that tipped the scales into a massive flood for one of the nation's largest cities.

In all, Allison was the nation's costliest tropical storm that never became a hurricane; total U.S. damage was $9 billion. In Houston alone, nearly 13,000 homes were destroyed or had major damage. A whopping 36.99" of rain was measured at the Port of Houston, the heaviest rain event from a Texas tropical cyclone since Claudette in 1979. Twenty-three were killed in Texas.

Allison underscored the flood danger from weak tropical storms or depressions that stall.

Finally...let's end with the most notorious June tropical cyclone in the Northeast.

Hurricane Agnes (1972)

While Agnes made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, its legacy is linked to its second wind as a tropical storm curling northwestward toward New York City, then stalling. A large swath of 10"+ rain fell from northern Virginia to the Finger Lakes of New York.

A dike was breached in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., sending a wall of water through the city. Extensive flooding was seen all along the Susquehanna River, including Elmira, N.Y. and Harrisburg, Pa., the James River in Downtown Richmond, Va.

In all, 122 were killed from Agnes and its remnant flooding. At its time, Agnes was the costliest weather disaster in U.S. history, with total damage estimated at $2.1 billion.

(BLOGS: Stu Ostro (written in 2006) | Dr. Greg Forbes (written in 2006))