WMO hurricane committee has removed Erika & Joaquin from use in future Atlantic storms & hurricanes

The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) hurricane committee announced yesterday that it will no longer use the names Erika and Joaquin for future tropical storms or hurricanes in the Atlantic, and also that the name Patricia will no longer be used in the Eastern North Pacific. Those three storms occurred in 2015. The WMO says it will replace the name Erika with “Elsa”, Joaquin with “Julian” and Patricia with “Pamela” when the 2015 lists are reused in 2021.
 
Torrential rains from Tropical Storm Erika inflicted significant casualties and damage in Dominica. More than a foot of rain fell here and the storm was reportedly directly responsible for 30 deaths. In Haiti, one person died due to a mud slide after Erika had dissipated as a tropical cyclone.
 
The WMO reuses storm names every six years for both the Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific basins, unless retired because the storm was so deadly or costly, that the future use of the name would be insensitive.
 
Patricia is the 13th name to be removed from the Eastern North Pacific list. In comparison, Erika and Joaquin are the 79th and 80th name to be removed from the Atlantic list.