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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
Bettmann via Getty
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
Deer Park, Texas — At least two workers at a Houston-area oil refinery were killed Thursday when hydrogen sulfide leaked at the plant, setting off urgent warnings for nearby residents to stay indoors before authorities later determined that the public wasn’t in danger.
Nearly three dozen other people were either transported to hospitals or treated at the scene, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. Hours after the leak began, Gonzalez said the area was still unsafe for investigators to enter and that officials may not be able to get inside until Friday.
The plant is operated by Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, and located in the suburb of Deer Park.
Adrees Latif / REUTERS
Gonzalez said the gas release happened during work on a flange at the facility, which is part of a cluster of oil refineries and plants that makes Houston the nation’s petrochemical heartland.
Pemex said in a statement that investigations were underway and that operations had been “proactively halted” at two units with the aim of mitigating the impact.
Local officials issued a shelter-in-place order but lifted it hours later after air monitoring showed no risk to the surrounding community, Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton said.
The chief meteorologist at CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV, David Paul, said the wind was calm Thursday night.
Hydrogen sulfide is a foul-smelling gas that can be toxic at high levels.
“Other than the smell, we have not had any verifiable air monitoring to support that anything got outside the facility,” Mouton said.
Television news crews showed multiple ambulances and emergency vehicles at the scene. Gonzalez had originally posted on the social platform X that one person was transported to a hospital by helicopter, but officials later said at a news conference that no one was airlifted.
The leak caused the second shelter-in-place orders in Deer Park in the span of weeks. Last month, a pipeline fire that burned for four days forced surrounding neighborhoods to evacuate.
Los Angeles — Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, though fans of the electric vehicle maker will have to wait until at least 2026 before it’s available.
CEO Elon Musk pulled up to a stage at the Warner Bros. studio lot in one of the company’s “Cybercabs,” telling the crowd the sleek, AI-powered vehicles don’t have steering wheels or pedals. He also expressed confidence in the progress the company has made on autonomous driving technology that makes it possible for vehicles to drive without human intervention.
Tesla / Handout via REUTERS
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.
“We’ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving, where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” he said. “It’s going to be a glorious future.”
Tesla expects the Cybercabs to cost under $30,000, Musk said. He estimated that the vehicles would become available in 2026, then added “before 2027.”
The company also expects to make the Full Self-Driving technology available on its popular Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Texas and California next year.
“If they’re going to eventually get to robotaxis, they first need to have success with the unsupervised FSD at the current lineup,” said Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar Research. “Tonight’s event showed that they’re ready to take that step forward.”
Tesla had 20 or so Cybercabs on hand and offered event attendees the opportunity to take rides inside the movie studio lot – not on Los Angeles’ roads.
At the presentation, which was dubbed “We, Robot” and was streamed live on Tesla’s website and X, Musk also revealed a sleek minibus-looking vehicle that, like the Cybercab, would be self-driving and can carry up to 20 passengers.
The company also trotted out several of its black and white Optimus humanoid robots, which walked a few feet from the attendees before showing off dance moves in a futuristic-looking gazebo.
Tesla / Handout via REUTERS
Musk estimated that the robots would cost between $28,000-$30,000 and would be able to babysit, mow lawns and fetch groceries, among other tasks.
“Whatever you can think of, it will do,” he said.
The unveiling of the Cybercab comes as Musk tries to persuade investors that his company is more about artificial intelligence and robotics as it struggles to sell its core products, an aging lineup of electric vehicles.
Tesla’s model lineup is struggling and isn’t likely to be refreshed until late next year at the earliest, TD Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne wrote in a research note last week.
Osborne also noted that, in TD Cowen’s view, the “politicization of Elon” is tarnishing the Tesla brand among Democratic buyers in the U.S.
Musk has endorsed former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and has pushed many conservative causes. Last weekend, he joined Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
Musk has been saying for more than five years that a fleet of robotaxis is near, enabling Tesla owners to make money by having their cars carry passengers while they’re not being used by their owners.
But he’s acknowledged that past predictions for the use of autonomous driving proved too optimistic. In 2019, he promised the fleet of autonomous vehicles by the end of 2020.
The announcement comes as U.S. safety regulators are investigating Full Self Driving and Autopilot based on evidence that it has a weak system for making sure human drivers pay attention.
In addition, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration forced Tesla to recall Full Self-Driving in February because it enabled speeding and violated other traffic laws, especially near intersections. Tesla was to fix the problems with an online software update.
Last April in Snohomish County, Washington, near Seattle, a Tesla using Full Self-Driving hit and killed a motorcyclist, authorities said. The Tesla driver told authorities he was using the system while looking at his phone when the car rear-ended the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
NHTSA says it’s evaluating information on the fatal crash from Tesla and law enforcement officials.
The Justice Department also has sought information from Tesla about Full Self-Driving and Autopilot, as well as other items.
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