New York, Nov 30 (IANS) The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close on Saturday, bringing to an end a season that saw 11 hurricanes compared to the average seven, and death and destruction hundreds of miles from where storms came ashore on the US Gulf Coast, local media reported.

Meteorologists called it a "crazy busy" season due in part to unusually warm ocean temperatures. Eight hurricanes made landfall in the United States, Bermuda, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Grenada, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting The Associated Press.

In September, Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage across the southeastern US and was the deadliest storm to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005. More than 200 people died.

North Carolina estimates the storm caused at least $48.8 billion in direct or indirect damage, with houses, drinking water systems and farms and forests destroyed. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also sustained extensive damage.

"In October, Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified, and the storm's maximum wind speeds hit a screaming 180 mph, making it one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. The only one stronger by that measure was Hurricane Rita in 2005," said the report.

The areas where Helene and Milton struck saw as much as three times their usual rainfall for September and October, the heart of the Atlantic hurricane season. For Asheville, Tampa and Orlando, the two-month period was the wettest on record, it added.

Courtesy Media Group: IANS

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