12 Retired Names That Won't Show Up on 2017's Atlantic Hurricane List

Only two names from the original list of hurricane and tropical storm names established in 1959 have survived until this year: Arlene and Cindy. The others have been retired due to the death and destruction they caused.

More than 9,000 people have been killed by a short list of especially deadly and destructive storms, including Katrina and Floyd.

Arlene, which already occurred this season, has been used 11 times since 1959 is the most frequent storm name in the Atlantic Basin. Cindy has been used eight times, but was skipped in 1967 and 1971 in favor of Chloe.

Each season, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) retires the names of the hurricanes or tropical storms that were particularly deadly or destructive. Requests from countries that were hit are taken into consideration.

(MORE: Hurricane Central)

The storms that are retired are the worst of the worst, and their names are not used again for sensitivity reasons, according to the National Hurricane Center. There are a few exceptions, including the use of a name associated with bad events or organizations or for storms that were important in research.

Sometimes names are expired for no reason, as was the case with several names from the original list: Edith, Gracie, Judith and Kristy. Other names, including Hannah and Sophie, had their names changed to different spellings over time.

Two additional names from 1959 survive today: Tanya and Vicky. They have not yet been used, but are in the 2019 and 2020 name lists, respectively.

Storm names have been on a rotating set of lists since 1979. These name lists repeat every seventh year, and the list of names for the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has been used six times so far in its current form.

There are eight names that have been retired and four additional storms that have been retired since 1957.

1999-Present

Hurricane Irene, 2011 (Originally on the 1959 names list)

Through 2013, Irene was the third-costliest tropical cyclone on record for the United States, causing at least $15.6 billion in damage as it paralleled the East Coast. That price tag doesn't include damage totals for the Bahamas or in the Caribbean.

Irene was responsible for 49 direct deaths during its lifespan: 41 in the U.S., five in the Dominican Republic and three in Haiti.

It was a Category 3 hurricane with winds of up to 120 mph in the Bahamas but weakened to a Category 1 as it approached North Carolina. Upon landfall, Irene's winds continued to weaken, but heavy rain caused flooding from the Carolinas into New England as the system roared northward.

(MORE: Where Every Hurricane Has Hit the U.S., 1985-2015)

Nobody can forget the 2005 hurricane season with its 28 named storms and 15 hurricanes. Some of those hurricanes were monsters, and five of them had their names retired.

Hurricane Dennis, 2005 (Originally on the 1981 names list)

Dennis comes in at No. 19 on the list of costliest U.S. hurricanes after storming ashore as a Category 3 hurricane July 2005 in the Florida Panhandle with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.

According to a new estimate in 2011, U.S. damage from Dennis was an estimated $2.545 billion, and in Jamaica, the toll was about $31.7 million.

Dennis was responsible for 42 direct deaths – 22 in Haiti, 16 in Cuba, three in the U.S. and one in Jamaica – plus 12 more in Florida that were indirectly caused by the hurricane.

Hurricane Katrina, 2005 (Originally on the 1981 names list)

Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive hurricane since 1900, made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast with winds of 125 mph and more than a foot of rainfall. But Katrina is known for the water that submerged New Orleans, caused misery for months across the region and pushed storm surge miles inland in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Katrina is the third-deadliest U.S. hurricane, claiming about 1,500 lives. It directly caused $108 billion in damage.

(MORE: The Impacts of Hurricane Katrina)

Hurricane Rita, 2005 (Originally on the 1981 names list, but was unused)

Hurricane Rita, which was largely overshadowed by Katrina just a few weeks later, made landfall along the Texas and Louisiana border in September 2005 with winds of 115 mph.

Estimates from 2011 suggest Rita caused about $12 billion in damage.

"The approach of Rita provoked one the largest evacuations in U.S. history. Media reports indicate that the number of evacuees in Texas could have exceeded two million," according to the NHC's final report.

Rita moved through Texas's offshore oil field and the highly populated and industrialized city of Houston, which escaped widespread damage.

Farther east, the story was much different. Storm surge in portions of southwestern Louisiana caused complete destruction in several communities. Storm surge damage was reported as far east as New Orleans just weeks after Katrina.

Damage from wind and tornadoes was reported in Louisiana, eastern Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and the Florida Keys.

Rita produced 90 tornadoes in the South, mainly on the northern and eastern sides of the hurricane, as it moved inland.

Hurricane Stan, 2005 (Originally on the 1981 names list, but was unused)

Hurricane Stan moved across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and into southern Mexico in October 2005 as a minimal Category 1 hurricane.

Guatemala was hit particularly hard with heavy rainfall enhanced by the hurricane, and landslides followed. Stan is thought to be directly responsible for 80 deaths in Mexico, but very heavy rains spread across Central America and may have caused as many as 2,000 deaths.

(MORE: Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in Mexico, Central America Have Tragic History)

Hurricane Wilma, 2005 (Originally on the 1981 names list, but was unused)

Hurricane Wilma, the most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, rapidly intensified in the western Caribbean before it brushed the Yucatan Peninsula, weakened slightly and accelerated across south Florida. Wilma made landfall near Cape Romano, Florida, with winds of 120 mph.

Wilma surpassed three other previously mentioned hurricanes on the list of most intense hurricanes in the Atlantic, in terms of pressure. At one point, Wilma had a pressure of 882 millibars, or 26.05 inches of mercury.

At the time, Wilma, which caused $21.01 billion in damage in America alone, was the third-costliest hurricane in U.S. history but has since been bumped down the list by Sandy and Ike. Twenty-three deaths in the U.S. and the Caribbean were attributed to Wilma.

Hurricane Floyd, 1999 (Originally on the 1981 names list)

Floyd killed 57 people, mostly in the U.S., as it scraped along the coast from just off Florida to New England and southern Canada.

Damage estimates as of 2011 were an estimated $6.9 billion, according to the final report issued by the NHC.

Floyd made landfall in North Carolina with winds of 105 mph after it peaked with 155-mph winds east of the Bahamas days earlier.

Most of the American victims drowned in freshwater after immense flooding from North Carolina to New England.

(MORE: Worst Hurricanes in All 50 States)

Hurricane Lenny, 1999 (Name was only used once)

Often known as "Wrong-way Lenny," this hurricane moved eastward through the Caribbean and caused damage in the Lesser Antilles as it moved into the Atlantic.

One to 3 feet of rain fell from Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico as homes and other structures were damaged on several islands.

According to the Hurricane Center's final report, 17 deaths were directly associated with Lenny: three in Dutch St. Maarten, two in Colombia, five in Guadeloupe, one in Martinique, and six offshore.

Several harbors were punished by waves and onshore winds, and numerous boats were lost.

(MORE: Countries Hit Most by Tropical Cyclones)

Before 1999 

Three hurricane seasons – 1993, 1987 and 1981 – passed without any storm names retired.

Prior to 1979, this list of names bounced around with more irregularity.

In the 1970s, there was a rotation of lists that occurred once a decade; the 2017 list was used in 1971 but no storms were retired that season. Back then, lists were made entirely with female names, and no male names were introduced until 1979.

Between 1959 and 1969, naming lists were repeated every four years. The 2017 list was used in 1967, 1963 and 1959. Arlene and Cindy are two names that remain on the 2017 list from the 1959 hurricane season.

If you were to look at lists in a six-year rotation instead of following our list, there are four more notable retired storm names going back to 1957.

Hurricane Eloise, 1975

Hurricane Eloise was a tropical cyclone that passed through the Greater Antilles and brought huge rainfall throughout the islands – over 30 inches in Puerto Rico – before it turned northward in the Gulf of Mexico.

Eloise made landfall in the central Florida Panhandle, releasing rainfall from Florida to Maine. It killed 80 people – 34 in Puerto Rico, 21 in the U.S., 18 in Haiti and seven in the Dominican Republic.

Hurricane Camille, 1969

Camille is one of three hurricanes to make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, coming ashore near Waveland, Mississippi, with winds of 175 mph just before midnight on Aug. 17, 1969. It caused $1.42 billion in damage in 1969 USD, which would total nearly $9.5 billion if adjusted to 2017 USD.

Hurricane Camille is the second-most-intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S., behind only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.

Camille also made landfall in western Cuba with winds of 110 mph earlier in its lifecycle and rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico before its landfall in the U.S.

(MORE: Monsters of the Atlantic: The Basin's Category 5 Hurricanes)

Hurricane Flora, 1963

Flora was a major hurricane that moved through the Caribbean in early October 1963, stalling over Cuba for more than four days.

Due to its slow motion over Cuba and Hispaniola, Flora dropped 4 to 8 feet of rainfall and devastated communities on both islands.

Flora, one of the names from the original 1959 list, killed more than 7,100 people in the Caribbean and caused over $500 million (1957 USD) in damage. Flora is one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in written history.

Hurricane Audrey, 1957

Hurricane Audrey remains the seventh-deadliest hurricane in American history even though it occurred 60 years ago. Audrey, a Category 3 that made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border, is responsible for at least 416 deaths.

This hurricane brought more than 10 inches of rain and several tornadoes to parts of the South.

Luckily for those along the coast, a small network of early radars was available to see Audrey as it moved ashore. The national network of radars was not installed until the very late 1950s and 1960s.

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