NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The number of Americans filing for unemployment assistance tumbled by 44,000 last week, the government reported Thursday, coming in well below estimates as the backlog of filings from Hurricane Charley subsided.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 319,000 in the week ended Sept. 4, down from a revised 363,000 the previous week. Wall Street had expected a reading of 345,000, according to Briefing.com.

A Labor Department analyst attributed much of the gain in jobless claims in the week ended Aug. 28 to people seeking benefits in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, which slammed into south Florida last month.

The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which smoothes out weekly fluctuations, came in at 339,250, down from 343,000 the previous week.

Continuing claims, or those people who already received at least one week of assistance, came in at 2.898 million for the week ended Aug. 28, according to the latest data available. That was up 20,000 from the previous week.