We've been more lucky with hurricanes. However, I fear this year could be much worse. I would not be surprised if there are even more Category 5 hurricanes and one hits the Gulf Coast and another the East Coast. Even though Katrina and Rita weakened as they made landfall, they did damage. Katrina was weakened because of dry air got in. As for Rita, it hit cooler waters. Wilma moved very fast, so the damage was not as bad. Like you said, it could of been much worse. Had Katrina went over or west of New Orleans, the flood would of happened sooner and there would be great wind damage. Many more lives could of been lost. If Houston was hit by a Category 5, it would be very catastrophic.
Thanks for reminding me.
"Rita" lost power very fast as it approached the Texas coast and had become only a Category II storm by the time the eye reached 30 miles inland. That was unusually quick deterioration, and both warm air and cooler coastal waters contributed.
The point is, that neither condition could be counted on to help a coastal area impinged on by a later hurricane.
Indeed, "Charley" in 2004 actually intensified considerably to Category III as it reached shore. What saved a lot of lives in that case was that the storm was relatively compact, resembling more, as one meteorologist put it, an F5 tornado 50 miles in diameter. Another source mentioned that "Charley" disposed of about 1/4th the total energy of "Katrina", measured when "Katrina" was still out in the Gulf and still a Category V storm.