Hurricane Isabel was the costliest , deadliest , and strongest hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season . With sixteen storms , the season was tied for the sixth most active Atlantic hurricane season on record . The strongest hurricane of the season was Hurricane Isabel , which reached Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale northeast of the Lesser Antilles ; Isabel later struck North Carolina as a Category 2 hurricane , causing $ 3.6 billion in damage ( 2003 USD , $ USD ) and a total of 51 deaths across the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States .