Four tropical cyclone names from 2020 will no longer be used in the future, state weather bureau PAGASA said Wednesday, citing the massive damage left behind by the storms.
The decommissioned storm names are Ambo, Quinta, Rolly, and Ulysses, PAGASA said.
In a year fraught with uncertainty due to COVID-19, the Philippines hunkered down in the last quarter of 2020 as it faced a series of typhoons, with Rolly (international name: Goni) being the strongest storm of the year at the time.
PAGASA reuses tropical cyclone names every four years. This means that names that were used in 2020 will be repeated in 2024, 2028, and 2032.
But because of the damage left by the four 2020 storms, these will be replaced by Aghon, Querubin, Romina, and Upang, respectively in the 2024 list, PAGASA said.
ALSO READ:
Here are the 2021 Typhoon Names from PAGASA
When is a tropical cyclone name "retired" or decommissioned? PAGASA follows certain criteria.
For a tropical cyclone name to be retired, it must have claimed over 300 lives or caused over P1 billion worth of damage.
Filipino-sounding names are given to typhoons to help with easier recall, PAGASA said given that the Philippines is battered by an average of 20 storms yearly.
ALSO READ:
