Hurricane names: Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate retired

It’s entirely likely that Florida will be slammed by a hurricane again in the future, but it won’t be by a hurricane named Harvey, Irma, Maria or Nate.

A regional committee for the World Meteorological Organization, which oversees the naming of hurricanes, retired all four of those names at its meeting this week because of the extensive damage the hurricanes caused throughout the Caribbean and U.S. last year, the National Hurricane Center announced Thursday.

Added to the list of storm names for 2023 as replacements were Harold, Idalia, Margot and Nigel, said the Hurricane Center, a member of the meteorological organization’s committee.

The list of hurricane names retired since storms began being named in 1953 now totals 86. The 2005 hurricane season holds the record for most names retired in a season with five.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the mid-Texas coast Aug. 25 last year, then stalled.

It dropped up to 5 feet of rain, causing destructive flooding and became the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

The Hurricane Center reported at least 68 people died from direct effects of the storm in Texas, the largest number in that state since 1919.

Long-lived Hurricane Irma roared through the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm before making landfall in Florida on Sept. 10 last year, claiming 44 lives with direct effects and another 85 in indirect effects. Recovery continues throughout Volusia and Flagler counties and across the path of the storm.

Hurricane Maria ravaged the islands of Dominica and Puerto Rico and became the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history, behind Harvey and Katrina.

The Hurricane Center reported Maria caused 31 direct deaths with 34 missing in Dominica, and two direct deaths in Guadeloupe.

In Puerto Rico, the death toll stands at 65, which includes an unknown number of indirect deaths.

Hurricane Nate made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane, after causing 45 deaths in Central America.