MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- This year was one of the strangest hurricane seasons ever. It started off at record-breaking speed, completely stopped at the usual peak, then ended with a bang.  The season started with Category 5 hurricane Beryl devastating the Grenadas. “It became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic and it became the first Category 5 hurricane in the month of June. So right away you knew this season had the potential to be very active and very catastrophic,” said Jeff Frame, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois. “The prediction was for an active year and I think that really got people’s attention with a storm that early being that strong,” said Erik Heden, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service. One Memphis resident rode it out when his sailboat got stranded on the island of Carricou. “The second round after the 30 minutes of lull hit like a ton of bricks it was really stout,” said Jim Garts, a Memphis resident. But then the tropics went quiet. For weeks during the peak season, nothing formed. Right when forecasters were getting ready to call the forecast a bust, came hurricanes Francine, Helene, and Milton. WREG Weather Experts Max Claypool and Jake Dalton were in Louisiana for Francine’s landfall. Then Clapool went down in Perry, Florida for Category 4 hurricane Helene. “So it was a Category 4 storm but what Helene will be remembered for was the devastating flooding in Western North Carolina,” said Erik Heden. The remnants of Helene brought the worst flooding in a century for western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. In all, it was the second costliest hurricane season ever with $227 billion worth of damage. There were 18 named storms, 4 more than the average of 14.