Hurricane Matthew (2016) scored 80/100 on the Destructive Power Score scale — a Catastrophic event.

Saffir-Simpson rated this a Category 5 based on peak wind alone. DPS combines intensity with storm size, surge potential, duration of coastal exposure, and geographic reach for a fuller picture of destructive potential.

Matthew never made a true US-mainland landfall — but tracked parallel to the Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina coasts for roughly 84 hours at Category 3-4 intensity, close enough to drive an estimated $10 billion in US surge, wind, and inland-flooding damage from the Treasure Coast to Cape Hatteras. (It had already devastated Haiti as a Cat 4 days earlier — 600+ killed, $2.8 billion in damage.) The 80 DPS reflects the coast-tracking bonus that fires when a large storm parallels populated coastline: Matthew exposed sequential metros from West Palm Beach to Charleston to Wilmington for a day each, even though the eyewall stayed offshore. The score is intentionally lower than a comparable storm that crossed the coast — but higher than purely open-ocean Cat 5s that never threatened land.

Landfall: Windward Islands, Cuba / Jamaica, Bahamas (3 landfalls).