 Hurricane Janet was the most powerful tropical cyclone of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season and one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record . The eleventh tropical storm , ninth hurricane , and fifth major hurricane of the year , Janet formed from a tropical wave east of the Lesser Antilles on September 21 . Moving westward across the Caribbean Sea , Janet fluctuated in intensity , but generally strengthened before reaching its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 175 mph ( 280 km / h ) . The intense hurricane later made landfall at that intensity near Chetumal , Mexico on September 28 . After weakening over the Yucatán Peninsula , it moved into the Bay of Campeche , where it slightly strengthened before making its final landfall near Veracruz on September 29 . Janet quickly weakened over Mexico 's mountainous terrain before dissipating on September 30 . 
