Mississippi Gulf Coast Hurricanes & Power Outages: The Numbers
Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Journalists, researchers, and community groups are welcome to cite any figure on this page with attribution and a link.
This page collects verified, primary-source statistics on hurricanes and power outages along the Mississippi Gulf Coast — the numbers behind every generator conversation in Gulfport, Biloxi, and the surrounding coast. Each figure links to its source at the bottom of the page.
We maintain this page as a public reference for Coast homeowners, journalists, and community groups. It pairs with our practical guide, Generator Fuel Math: How Long Yours Will Actually Run After a Hurricane.
27.8 ft
Katrina's record high-water mark at Pass Christian — the highest storm surge ever measured on the U.S. coast
NOAA NHC Tropical Cyclone Report, 2005
234,975
Mississippi customers without power at Hurricane Zeta's peak
U.S. Dept. of Energy, Oct 2020
15
Hurricanes that struck Mississippi 1851–2004, 8 of them major — and that count ends before Katrina
NOAA National Hurricane Center
100,531
Housing units in Harrison County today
U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 est.
Hurricane strikes on the Mississippi coast
The National Hurricane Center's official strikes-by-state table credits Mississippi with 15 hurricane landfalls from 1851 through 2004 — two Category 1, five Category 2, seven Category 3, and one Category 5. Eight of the fifteen arrived as major hurricanes. That table's period ends in 2004, so the modern storms Coast residents remember — Katrina, Zeta, Ida — sit on top of those numbers, not inside them.
The longer cost ledger is just as clear: NOAA's billion-dollar disaster database counts 108 separate billion-dollar weather disasters affecting Mississippi from 1980 through 2024. Twenty-two were tropical cyclones, and those 22 account for 71.5% of the state's cumulative disaster costs.
Katrina set the bar
The NHC's post-storm report on Hurricane Katrina (2005) documents storm surge of 24–28 feet across a roughly 20-mile-wide swath of the Mississippi coast centered on St. Louis Bay, with a maximum high-water mark of 27.8 feet at Pass Christian. Along the eastern half of the coast — roughly Gulfport to Pascagoula — surge ran 17–22 feet.
Katrina caused 172 direct deaths in Mississippi, the vast majority from storm surge in the three coastal counties, and $125 billion in U.S. damage in 2005 dollars — about $210 billion in 2024 dollars, per WLOX's Katrina-20 retrospective.
Modern storms still cut the power
Even quieter years leave Mississippi near the top of the outage tables: EIA data for 2019 put the state among the five longest-interrupted in the country, with customers averaging almost 7 hours without power that year. Nationally, 2024 was the worst outage year in a decade — 11 hours lost per customer on average, with hurricanes causing roughly 80% of it.
| Storm | Year | Mississippi peak outages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Zeta | 2020 | 234,975 customers | U.S. DOE situation report |
| Hurricane Ida | 2021 | ~148,850 customers (7% of the state) | U.S. DOE situation update |
| Tropical Storm Bertha | 2026 | Tropical-storm warning for Harrison, Hancock & S. Jackson counties; minimal reported impact | Mississippi Free Press, Jul 22, 2026 |
DOE outage peaks are as reported in each storm's federal situation report.
What this means for a Gulfport home
Harrison County has 100,531 housing units and 83,358 households, 62.2% of them owner-occupied (Census, 2025 vintage estimates). Every one of them shares the same grid the storms above took down.
Demand follows the storms: Generac told Reuters each major hurricane adds $50–100 million in generator sales nationally, and U.S. customers logged 1.2 billion outage hours in the first nine months of 2024 alone — the worst since tracking began in 2010. The practical question for a Coast homeowner isn't whether the power goes out; it's how long yours needs to stay on. Our fuel-math guide covers exactly that.
Sources & Methodology
Every figure above was taken from the primary sources below (accessed 2026-07-25). Where a number is derived (arithmetic on published figures) or covers a broader period or area, the text says so.
- NOAA NHC — U.S. Hurricane Strikes by State (1851–2004)
- NOAA NHC — Hurricane Katrina Tropical Cyclone Report — surge heights, MS deaths, damage totals
- U.S. Department of Energy — Hurricane Zeta Situation Report #2 (Oct 30, 2020)
- U.S. Department of Energy — Hurricane Ida Situation Update #4 (Sep 1, 2021)
- U.S. EIA — Today in Energy: 2019 interruption data
- U.S. EIA — Today in Energy: 2024 outage hours
- NOAA NCEI — Billion-Dollar Disasters, Mississippi summary (1980–2024)
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts — Harrison County, MS (V2025)
- Mississippi Free Press — Tropical Storm Bertha coverage (Jul 22, 2026)
- Reuters (via WTVB) — Generac post-hurricane demand, 2024 — national figures
Quick Answers
What's the most powerful hurricane to hit the Mississippi coast?
By surge, Katrina (2005) is the benchmark: NOAA documented 24–28 feet of storm surge across a 20-mile swath of the coast and a record 27.8-foot high-water mark at Pass Christian — the highest ever measured on the U.S. coastline. The official strikes table (1851–2004) also credits Mississippi with one Category 5 landfall in that period.
How often do hurricanes actually hit Mississippi?
NOAA's official count is 15 hurricane strikes from 1851 through 2004, 8 of them major (Category 3+). That period excludes everything since 2004 — including Katrina, Zeta, and Ida — so the practical rhythm on the Coast is roughly a serious storm threat every few years, not once a generation.
How long do power outages last here after a hurricane?
It varies by storm, but the reported peaks tell the story: Zeta knocked out 234,975 Mississippi customers in 2020, and Ida cut power to roughly 148,850 (7% of the state) in 2021, with multi-day restoration in the hardest-hit areas. Even in the quiet year of 2019, Mississippi customers averaged almost 7 hours without power — among the five worst states.
Does this data cover Gulfport specifically?
The surge and warning figures are coast-specific (Pass Christian, Gulfport–Pascagoula, Harrison County warnings), while outage counts are statewide peaks from federal situation reports and the housing figures are Harrison County. Each number's scope is stated where it appears, and every source is linked above.