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Here's the amount of damage hurricanes of different strengths could cause the US

Rebecca HarringtonOct 2, 2015, 02:29 IST

NASA

Hurricane Joaquin is barreling across the Bahamas and potentially down the Atlantic coast, as a Category 4 hurricane.

The category of tropical storm a hurricane is in as makes landfall actually make a big difference on the amount of damage it could inflict.

It's tough to predict what category Joaquin will be as gets closer to the East Coast. Hurricanes typically lose intensity over time, so their category usually decreases as they get closer to land.

Hurricane Katrina, for example, reached a Category 5 storm out at sea, but hit New Orleans as a Category 3. Similarly, Hurricane Sandy was technically a post-tropical cyclone when it hit the East Coast, though it was a Category 3 at one point.

So what do the categories mean?

And what could the damage be if a hurricane were to make landfall as a tropical storm, or a Category 1, 2, 3, 4, 5?