Which Typhoon Names Have Been Permanently Retired? A Record of Disasters
Typhoon names that cause significant disasters are permanently retired, such as HAIYAN, MANGKHUT, MORAKOT, and DOKSURI. Behind each retired name lies a profound catastrophe.
Under What Circumstances Are Typhoon Names Retired?
When a typhoon causes particularly severe casualties or economic losses, affected members can apply to retire its name at the annual meeting of the WMO Typhoon Committee. After retirement, the country that originally proposed the name must submit a new name to replace it.
Retirement is a "memorial" mechanism: it binds the name forever to that specific disaster, ensuring it is never reused.
Notable Retired Typhoons
| Name | Year | Major Disasters |
|---|---|---|
| Wanda | 1962 | Severely impacted Hong Kong; storm surge caused significant casualties |
| LONGWANG | 2005 | Heavy rain and flooding in Fujian; the first name proposed by mainland China to be retired |
| SAOMAI | 2006 | Super typhoon made direct landfall in Cangnan, Zhejiang; heavy losses for offshore fishing vessels |
| MORAKOT | 2009 | Caused the "88 Water Disaster" in Taiwan; Xiaolin Village was wiped out, with over 600 fatalities |
| HAIYAN | 2013 | Struck the Philippines at peak intensity; over 6,000 deaths |
| RAMMASUN | 2014 | Super typhoon landed in Hainan; caused severe damage in South China |
| HATO | 2017 | Storm surge severely impacted Macau and Zhuhai |
| MANGKHUT | 2018 | Widespread destruction across Guangdong province; hundreds injured in Hong Kong |
| LEKIMA | 2019 | Landslide in Shanzao Village, Zhejiang; national economic losses exceeded 50 billion yuan |
| DOKSURI | 2023 | After landfall in Fujian, its residual circulation triggered extreme rainfall in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei |
| YAGI | 2024 | Super typhoon landed in Hainan; caused significant casualties in Vietnam and Myanmar |
Names Proposed by Mainland China That Have Been Retired
LONGWANG (2005), HAIYAN's replacement name "BAILU" is currently in use... Among the names proposed by China, LONGWANG, HAIMA (2016), and IN-FA (2021) have been retired, with replacements being HAIKUI, MULAN, and YINXING, respectively.
Want to Check the Complete Track of a Retired Typhoon?
TyphoonSays' Historical Typhoon Database includes point-by-point tracks, intensity changes, and landfall records for all the retired typhoons mentioned above. On the aggregated pages for specific names, you can also compare differences among historical typhoons sharing the same name—for example, the disaster path of the typhoon previously named "LONGWANG" before it was replaced by "HAIKUI".