Is hurricane damage directly related to hurricane intensity?
Only in a statistical sense. Hurricane damage can vary greatly between tropical storms or hurricanes of similar intensity. Each cyclone has its individual characteristics. Some storms have their greatest damage from winds, some from storm surge, and some from rainfall induced flooding. Also, the types of landfall topography, ocean shoaling characteristics and coastal population can be primary factors in the amount of tropical cyclone-spawned damage. All these factors lead to a broad spread of individual cyclone damage characteristics. Cyclone motion is related to local rainfall. Slow moving or stationary tropical cyclones can bring much more rainfall and flash flooding than do more rapid moving storms.
