I find it difficult that we compare natural disasters on the basis of how much financial damage they cause. A large storm today will destroy more property than it did a hundred years ago, simply because we have more property. It might be useful to scale it according to the percentage of the national debt accumulated during the current presidency.
I would much rather focus on the amount [number, 2014-02-04] of people who have died. In this right, I think Katrina has not been our country’s largest natural disaster.
(on another scale note, I heard on the news today that people are buying more gas than ever, regardless of the price at the pump. Of course more gas is being bought: there are more people driving, and more SUVs and trucks on the road than ever before.)