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Here’s how many Category 5 hurricanes have hit mainland U.S.
The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1 and runs through Nov. 30. Hurricanes are rated on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which includes five categories based on the storm’s sustained wind speeds. It also estimates possible damage to property, ranging from “some damage” to “catastrophic.”
The highest is Category 5, which is marked by a storm that has sustained wind speed of 158 mph or higher for at least one minute.
According to the National Hurricane Center, there have been an estimated 42 tropical cyclones that have reached Category 5 status in the Atlantic Basin since 1924, the most recent being Hurricane Milton, which is churning toward Florida’s Gulf Coast as a powerful storm.
This number is likely higher because satellite monitoring technology was not available until the 1960s and cyclones that could have been a Category 5 storm may have remained undetected.
Several recorded Category 5 hurricanes reached that intensity multiple times during their lifetime. Hurricanes Allen (1980), Isabel (2003) and Ivan (2004) each soared to Category 5 intensity three separate times in their journeys.
Meanwhile, the November 1932 Cuba hurricane and Hurricane Irma in 2007 spent the longest combined time at Category 5 strength at 78 and 77 hours, respectively, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s database.
While multiple hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. peaked at Category 5, only four storms on record have done so at that intensity.
1935 Labor Day Hurricane
The Great Labor Day Hurricane road through Florida in early September 1935 becoming what the hurricane center says is the most intense storm ever to make landfall in the U.S.
It caused the deaths of 408 people – most of them World War I veterans working in the Florida Keys where the storm made its first landfall.
According to NOAA, the storm caused damages estimated at $6 million ($137 million in 2024).
Hurricane Camille in 1969
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The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille slammed into Mississippi just before midnight on Aug. 17. The hurricane produced a peak storm surge of 24 feet and flattened nearly everything along the Mississippi coast.
It caused an estimated $1.42 billion in damages (more than $12 billion in 2024) and killed more than 259 people.
Hurricane Andrew in 1992
On Aug. 22, 1992, Hurricane Andrew pummeled southern Florida as a monster Category 5 storm with sustained wind speeds as high as 165 mph and gusts as high as 174 mph.
Steve Starr/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
It caused $30 billion in damage and more than 40 deaths. It was the costliest natural disaster in the history of the U.S. at the time.
When the 1992 hurricane season ended, the name Andrew was removed from the list of future names for Atlantic tropical cyclones.
Hurricane Michael in 2018
Hurricane Michael barreled into Mexico Beach, Florida, on Oct. 10 with peak winds of 160 mph – making it the strongest storm on record to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle. It was the first Category 5 storm to make landfall on mainland U.S. since Andrew 26 years earlier.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
The cyclone was initially measured as a Category 4 storm, but forecasters upgraded it in April 2019 after conducting a detailed post-storm analysis.
At least 74 deaths were attributed to the storm – including 59 in the U.S. and 15 in Central America.
Michael caused an estimated $25.1 billion in damages.
Historic Category 5 storms
Here are the names of the estimated 42 tropical cyclones that have reached Category 5 intensity since 1924:
“Cuba” – 1924
“San Felipe II Okeechobee” – 1928
“Bahamas” – 1932
“Cuba” – 1932
“Cuba-Brownsville” – 1933
“Tampico” – 1933
“Labor Day” – 1935
“New England” – 1938
“Great Atlantic” – 1944
Carol – 1953
Janet – 1955
Esther – 1961
Hattie – 1961
Inez – 1966
Beulah – 1967
Camille – 1969
Edith – 1971
Anita – 1977
David – 1979
Allen – 1980
Gilbert – 1988
Hugo – 1989
Andrew – 1992
Mitch – 1998
Isabel – 2003
Ivan – 2004
Emily – 2005
Katrina – 2005
Rita – 2005
Wilma – 2005
Dean – 2007
Felix – 2007
Matthew – 2016
Irma – 2017
Maria – 2017
Michael – 2018
Dorian – 2019
Lorenzo – 2019
Ian – 2022
Lee – 2023
Beryl – 2024
Milton – 2024
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Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82.
A spokesperson for USA Gymnastics confirmed to CBS News by email that Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.
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“A big impact and influence on my life,” Comaneci, who was just 14 when Karolyi coached her to gold for Romania at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, posted on Instagram.
The Karolyis defected to the United States in 1981 and over the next 30-plus years became a guiding force in American gymnastics, though not without controversy. Bela helped guide Retton — all of 16 — to the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and memorably helped an injured Kerri Strug off the floor at the 1996 Games in Atlanta after Strug’s vault secured the team gold for the Americans.
Karolyi briefly became the national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics women’s elite program in 1999 and incorporated a semi-centralized system that eventually turned the Americans into the sport’s gold standard. It did not come without a cost. He was pushed out after the 2000 Olympics after several athletes spoke out about his tactics.
It would not be the last time Karolyi was accused of grandstanding and pushing his athletes too far physically and mentally.
During the height of the Larry Nassar scandal in the late 2010s — when the disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor was effectively given a life sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes with his hands under the guise of medical treatment — over a dozen former gymnasts came forward saying the Karolyis were part of a system that created an oppressive culture that allowed Nassar’s behavior to run unchecked for years.
Still, some of Karolyi’s most famous students were always among his staunchest defenders. When Strug got married, she and Karolyi took a photo recreating their famous scene from the 1996 Olympics, when he carried her onto the medals podium after she vaulted on a badly sprained ankle.