The World Meteorological Organization has dropped Irene from its six-year list of names for tropical storms and hurricanes because of the fatalities and damage caused by Hurricane Irene last August. Irma will replace it on the list, and could be first used in 2017.
Irene is the 76th name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954.
Irene became a hurricane on Aug. 22, and increased to Category 3 intensity on Aug. 24, while between Mayaguana and Grand Inagua in the Bahamas. The storm made landfall in North Carolina on Aug. 27 as a Category 1 hurricane, and made landfall the next day as a tropical storm near Atlantic City, New Jersey, moving over Coney Island and Manhattan later that day.
The storm caused widespread damage across much of the eastern United States, with catastrophic inland flooding occurring in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont.
Irene was directly responsible for 49 deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center, including five in the Dominican Republic, three in Haiti and 41 in the U.S. In this country, six deaths were the result of storm surge, waves or rip currents, 15 from wind or falling trees, and 21 from rainfall-induced floods.
Damage from the storm, including flooding, is estimated at $15.8 billion.