In September 1998, the seventh named storm of the Atlantic tropical season formed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It was given the name "Georges" (pronounced "Johrj") and rapidly intensified into a hurricane. Early Sunday morning, 20 September, the storm reached what would be its maximum intensity. Georges, now a Category Four storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, made its first of seven landfalls in the Lesser Antilles with sustained winds of 130 knots.