1969 Atlantic hurricane season  The 1969 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season since 1933 and is tied with 2019 as the fourth most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, and was also the final year of the most recent positive Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) era. The hurricane season officially began on June 1, and lasted until November 30. The season had the highest number of systems reach hurricane status – twelve – in a single season, until that record was surpassed in 2005. The season was above-average despite an El Niño, which typically suppresses activity in the Atlantic Ocean, while increasing tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific Ocean. Activity began with a series of five tropical depressions, the first of which developed on May 29. The third system in that series, Tropical Depression Seven, caused extensive flooding in Cuba and Jamaica in early June. The final in the series formed on July 25, the same day that Tropical Storm Anna developed. Neither the former nor latter caused significant impact on land. Later in the season, Tropical Depression Twenty-Nine caused severe local flooding in the Florida Panhandle and southwestern Georgia in September. Hurricane Blanche was a small and short-lived tropical cyclone in mid-August that resulted in minimal effects. The most significant storm of the season was Hurricane Camille, which peaked as a Category 5 hurricane on August 17 and devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States upon striking Mississippi the next day. Strong winds and storm surge heights especially impacted Mississippi and Louisiana. Later in its duration, the storm caused severe flooding Virginia and West Virginia. Camille alone was responsible for 259 deaths and $1.43 billion. All damage figures are in 1969 USD, unless otherwise noted. It was the costliest United States hurricane at the time, until Hurricane Agnes in 1972. In early September, Hurricane Francelia caused deadly floods in Central America, with 271 people killed in Central America. Hurricane Inga had the third longest duration of an Atlantic tropical cyclone. The last storm, Hurricane Martha, was the only known tropical cyclone to make landfall in Panama. Martha caused minor flooding in the former and Costa Rica. Overall, the systems of the season collectively caused 535 deaths and over $1.5 billion in losses. The 1969 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1. Of the twenty-four tropical cyclones that developed in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1969, eighteen of them intensified into tropical storms; this was above the 1950–2000 average of 9.6 named storms.