From CNN:
Hurricane categories to drop storm surges, flooding
The National Hurricane Center is no longer including storm surges and flooding in its hurricane categories out of concern that people aren't heeding proper warnings, because the surges haven't always matched the levels predicted in each category.
When Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coast last year with Category 2 winds (96-110 mph), it had a storm surge of 15 to 20 feet. That's a level more in line with the scale's description of a Category 5 storm, which has winds greater than 155 mph. A Category 2 hurricane, the Saffir-Simpson scale said, was likely to bring a storm surge of only 6 to 8 feet.
Ike was the third most destructive storm ever to make landfall in the United States. It was responsible for at least nine deaths, eight of which were in Texas.
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