Simplify the following text for a Grade 8 native English-speaking person.
Original: Hurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season , with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph ( 285 km\/h ) . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm , ninth hurricane , and third major hurricane of the season .
Simplified: Hurricane Mitch was the most powerful storm of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season .