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Hurricane names Florence and Michael retired, won't be used again


HURRICANE MICHAEL SATELLITE.jpg
HURRICANE MICHAEL SATELLITE.jpg
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MIAMI, Fl. -- The National Hurricane Center has confirmed the World Meteorological Organization has retired the names of Florence and Michael. They will no longer be used for any future tropical storms or hurricanes.

Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive. If names are not retired, they are reused on a six-year cycle.

The names Florence and Michael have been replaced with Francine and Milton, respectively. Those names will first be used in 2024.

Including Florence and Michael, 88 names have been retired from the Atlantic basin name list since 1953. The 2005 hurricane season has the most retired names - five - for one season.

Hurricane Florence, one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the Carolinas, made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on September 14 and moved slowly inland with heavy rain, storm surge, and record flooding. It caused at least 51 deaths and produced extensive flooding across much of the Carolinas and Virginia.

The next month, Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, on October 10, with sustained winds of 155 mph. This was the third most intense hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous U.S. based on central pressure, and the fourth most intense based on wind speed. It was also the most intense hurricane on record to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle, where it caused widespread devastation and farther inland across Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. There were at least 45 fatalities blamed on the storm in the United States.

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