Goodnight Irene

Irene is being retired from the list of storm names because the 2011 hurricane killed 49 people and caused more than $15 billion in damage. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the name will be replaced by Irma. Irene was retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical storm names by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee. Storm names are reused every six years unless retired for causing considerable casualties or damage. Irene is the 76th name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954. Five people in the Dominican Republic and three in Haiti were killed when Hurricane Irene stormed through the Caribbean in August. And 41 died in the U.S. when Irene barreled up the Eastern Seaboard.

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