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One Matthew was enough: Officials take name off Atlantic hurricane list

The World Meteorological Organization on Monday retired Matthew and Otto as Atlantic storm names.

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Abandoned car in Edgecombe

The World Meteorological Organization on Monday retired Matthew and Otto as Atlantic storm names.

Both storms ravaged the Caribbean last year, and Matthew did billions of dollars of damage in North Carolina during the first week of October. Matthew and Otto will be replaced by Martin and Owen when the 2016 name list is used again in 2022.

Matthew and Otto are the 81st and 82nd names to be removed from the Atlantic list. Storm names are retired if they were so deadly or destructive that the future use of the name would be insensitive, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a news release.

Matthew became a Ccategory 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale on the night of Sept. 30 over the central Caribbean Sea at the lowest latitude ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. It made landfall along the coast of southwestern Haiti, extreme eastern Cuba, western Grand Bahama Island and central South Carolina.

NOAA's GOES-East satellite on Oct. 2 at 4:45 a.m. EDT showing Hurricane Matthew over the south-central Caribbean Sea as a Category 4 hurricane. (Credit: NOAA)
NOAA's GOES-East satellite on Oct. 2 at 4:45 a.m. EDT showing Hurricane Matthew over the south-central Caribbean Sea as a Category 4 hurricane. (Credit: NOAA)

Matthew was responsible for 585 direct deaths, with more than 500 deaths occurring in Haiti, making it the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Stan in 2005.

Matthew generated devastating flooding across central and eastern North Carolina after the storm brushed past the coastline on Oct. 8, 2016. The hurricane dumped more than a foot of rain 100 miles inland, swelling streams and rivers to levels above what Hurricane Floyd produced in 1999.

Some of the hardest-hit counties were Cumberland, Robeson, Wayne, Johnston, Harnett, Lenoir, Nash and Edgecombe. At least 26 North Carolinians lost their lives.

About 1 million homes were without power, some for days. Hundreds of roads were closed, including Interstate 95 and Interstate 40, and thousands of people were forced to leave their homes, some plucked from rooftops by the Coast Guard.

The World Meteorological Organization on Monday retired Matthew and Otto as Atlantic storm names.

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