Let me preface this by saying that it in no way lessens the grief or sorrow for those who have lost loved ones in Hurricane Sandy.
Let me further preface this by saying that yes, I'm well aware that the total death toll may not be known for weeks to come. There are still people being rescued, still people who may die from injuries sustained during the storm and so forth.
Still, 4 days out the official number of deaths attributed to Sandy in the U.S. appears to be around 95 so far; I presume (and pray) that the final number will end up being under 200.
Again, this is tragic for the victims and their families and friends, but given the massive power and breadth of the storm, it's a testament to the preparedness and coordinated search, rescue and relief efforts at the local, state and federal levels that this number will (hopefully) not go much higher than it already is.
For comparison, according to this website, Hurricane Katrina killed well over 1,800 people, while only directly hitting 1/4 the number as Sandy (around 15 million vs. around 60 million). If the same number of people had been living in Katrina's path as live in Sandy's, this number would've been closer to around 7,200, or as much as 72 times (let's hope) as high as Sandy.
Obviously there are many factors keeping this from being a direct comparison, but it's still noteworthy to me.