The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season came to end on Saturday, but it left behind dozens of deaths and widespread damage across the state of Florida.
There were 18 named storms during the season that began June 1, including three that directly impacted Florida: Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. 63 people died as a result of those storms, and the Tampa Bay Business Journal reports they caused estimated losses of $5.3 billion, while bringing 314,000 insurance claims from homeowners and 16,000 by commercial property owners.
Following Hurricane Debby in early August, Hurricane Helene intensified rapidly before making landfall in Taylor County on the Florida coast Sept. 26 as a major Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 140 mp. It brought catastrophic flooding and widespread wind damage from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the southern Appalachians.