Hurricanes and Their Destruction

As I write this, Hurricane Hermine is fast approaching Florida as a Category 1 with estimated sustained wind speeds of 75 mph. While my novel includes an intense and destructive fictional hurricane as one of its central characters, these types of storms should never be taken lightly as they are dangerous to those in their paths.
I have seen the aftermath a number of hurricanes including Hurricane Wilma which slammed the Florida Coast in 2005 as a Category 3 with wind speeds of 120 mph. I also saw damage caused by Hurricane Odile, that hit Los Cabos Mexico in September of 2014 as a Category 3 with wind speeds of 125 mph. Wilma caused damage estimated at $29.4 billion. It is the fourth costliest US hurricane behind Katrina ($125B), Sandy ($68B), and Ike ($37.5B). Odile caused damage estimated to be on a smaller scale but still, the damage I saw was significant.