Hurricane Mitch was one of the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean . Mitch was the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane because it killed 11,000-18 ,000 in Central America and Mexico , it is second only to the Great Hurricane of 1780 . Hurricane Mitch was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since the Great Hurricane of 1780 , displacing the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 as the second-deadliest on record .