Second costliest hurricane season ends

(CNN) — The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season ended Sunday, marking the finish of one of the busiest and costliest hurricane seasons ever.

The damage caused by this year’s Atlantic hurricanes is estimated at $54 billion, according to the National Climatic Data Center. That’s second only in recorded history to 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. The total that year was an estimated $128 billion.