U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday as Hurricane Irma's damage appeared to be less than what the market had expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 259.58 points, or 1.19 percent, to 22,057.37. The S&P 500 added 26.68 points, or 1.08 percent, to 2,488.11, notching record close. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 72.07 points, or 1.13 percent, to 6,432.26.

Hurricane Irma, once a Category 5 hurricane, hit the coast of Florida over the weekend. It continued to march north on Monday, dumping rains across the state. However, the National Hurricane Center said that Irma had already weakened to a tropical storm.

Analysts said hurricanes have put markets on edge over recent weeks, as investors were quite uneasy when assessing the impact of these natural disasters on the markets.

Shares of Travelers Companies Inc, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways Corporation rose 2.35 percent, 2.97 percent and 3.64 percent, respectively.

There are no major economic reports due out on Monday.

Expectations for tighter monetary policy in the United States have been dampened recently. Market expectations for a rate hike in December are just 36.2 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

In corporate news, U.S. credit reporting giant Equifax announced last week that a cyber-security incident could potentially impact approximately 143 million U.S. consumers.

Shares of Equifax slumped 13.66 percent to close at 123.23 U.S. dollars apiece in the previous session. The company's stock fell 8.17 percent further on Monday to close at 113.16 dollars apiece.