Donald Trump reportedly suggested to his national security officials that nuclear bombs could be dropped on hurricanes at sea to stop them making landfall in the United States.

During a briefing early in his presidency, Mr Trump asked if it would be possible to disrupt hurricanes forming in the Atlantic by dropping a nuclear weapon in the eye of the storm, Axios reported.

The US president reportedly said: "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them? They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?"

Attendees at the meeting left thinking, "What do we do with this?," according to Axios.

Mr Trump categorically denied the report, calling it "ridiculous".

"The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous," he said. "I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!"

The White House declined to comment on the report.

However, Axios quoted a senior administration official as saying that the "objective" of stopping hurricanes was "not bad."

Axios also reported the president had made a similar suggestion in another conversation in 2017, asking a senior official whether the administration should bomb hurricanes.