This potential was realized with the birth of Hurricane Helen in late September. It quickly strengthened before making landfall on the Florida coast as a major Category 4 storm.
Helene brought catastrophic flooding and widespread wind damage to large areas of the southeastern United States, from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the southern Appalachians.
It was the deadliest hurricane to impact the continental United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, killing more than 150 people, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Helene was the first of six storms that occurred in quick succession. Five of these became hurricanes, and four of them strengthened rapidly, with sustained winds strengthening to at least 35 mph (56 km/h) over a 24-hour period.
This culminated with Hurricane Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico in early October and whose wind speeds increased dramatically to 90 mph (145 km/h) in 24 hours. This is one of the most extreme examples of rapid intensification on record.
It reached Category 5 intensity for a while before weakening to Category 3 and making landfall on Florida’s west coast. It had widespread impacts, including devastating storm surge and the outbreak of 46 tornadoes.
The last storm of the Atlantic season was Tropical Storm Sara. The storm did not strengthen into a hurricane, but moved slowly near the Central American coast, bringing widespread flooding. More than 3 feet (about 1 meter) of rain fell on the northern coast of Honduras.
