There’s something about hurricanes starting with the letter I that is particularly nasty. Last year’s Ida now joins the list of storms so deadly their names don’t get used again.
The World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday that it was retiring the name “Ida” from its list of Atlantic hurricane names that repeats every six years. Ida caused $75 billion damage in the U.S. and killed 55 people in a swath of destruction from Louisiana to New England.
Ida, a category four storm, caused about $55 billion in flooding damage and killed six people in Louisiana when it made landfall, but its heavy rains and flooding killed 49 people in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. It is the fifth costliest storm in U.S. history behind Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Maria and Sandy, all also retired, said National Hurricane Center senior hurricane specialist Daniel Brown, who is on the WMO committee that retires names.
…