The brutal hurricane season will help US businesses, according to a top official at the Federal Reserve.

"The long-run effect of these disasters, unfortunately, is it actually lifts economic activity because you have to rebuild all the things that have been damaged by the storms," NY Fed President William Dudley said in an interview with CNBC.

Still, the Fed is unlikely to raise interest rates any faster.

"I think it's too soon to judge exactly the timing of when the next rate hike might occur," he said, "but I think the path is clear that of short-term rates are going to move gradually higher over time."