That potential was realized in late September with the birth of Hurricane Helen. It quickly strengthened before making landfall on the Florida coast as a major Category 4 storm.
Helen brought catastrophic flooding and widespread wind damage across wide swaths of the southeastern United States, from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the southern Appalachians.
According to preliminary data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it was the deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed more than 150 people.
Helen was the first of six storms to develop in quick succession. Five of them became hurricanes, four of which underwent rapid intensification, when sustained winds increase to at least 35 mph (56 km/h) in 24 hours.
This culminated in Hurricane Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico in early October and caused its winds to increase by 90 mph (145 km/h) in 24 hours, one of the most extreme examples of rapid intensification on record.
It briefly reached Category 5 strength before weakening to Category 3 and making landfall on the west coast of Florida. This caused widespread effects, including a devastating storm surge and flash 46 tornado.
The last storm of the Atlantic season was Tropical Storm Sarah. This storm did not develop into a hurricane – but slowed near the coast of Central America, bringing widespread floods. More than 3 feet (almost 1 m) of rain fell on the northern coast of Honduras.
