Reporters confuse the storm of hype with actual storm strength and intensity. Camille remained a hurricane well inland. i was born over a decade later and I recall that there were still pockets of unrepaired damage in coastal towns, boarded up, with “Camille was here” spraypainted on the boards. The most memorable was the high water marks from the storm surge. I don’t know why but restaurants, hotels and such actually put a line and a measurement there, well up into the second story. Seems like that would be a deterrent to tourism but they did do that.
Sandy was hyped because it hit the northeast. People had no idea what to expect, buildings were very unwisely sited and constructed and the populace is, well, much more prone to complaining. The damage was immense, the whine larger still. The storm wasn’t.
Katrina appeared to be a death blow looming for New Orleans and the Louisiana coast, a Cat 5 but it slowed considerably to a 3 and veered off. I recall because there was a live thread here into the thousands of replies. The narrative was already set, however, and the hype rolled on. New Oreleans flooded, yep. A levee broke, yep. As if that’s never happened before. Damage was far, far worse at Pass Christian, Mississippi but the narrative of poor, downtrodden minorities desperately needing money was more important to the news media.