Hurricane Kirk (Hitman)

Hurricane Kirk was a deadly, destructive, and costly, Category 5 hurricane that devastated several points of land in the Atlantic basin in September 2018. A tropical wave along with remnants from Joyce and other disturbances formed Tropical Depression Thirteen on September 13. Over the warm water of the Atlantic, Thirteen underwent extreme intensification into a Category 4 hurricane that was named Kirk.

Kirk hit Bermuda as a Category 5 before weakening and moving south towards Florida. Kirk hit Northern Florida as a Category 5 with 160 mph winds before the system weakened into a Category 2. As Kirk was in the Gulf of Mexico, an impact of Louisiana and Texas was the most probable.

Kirk reached a peak strength of 175 mph and a barometric pressure reading of 904 mbar. Kirk then slightly weakened before regaining it's peak strength before making landfall in Texas . Flooding up to 31 inches and high winds caused catastrophic damage. Kirk weakened into a Category 1 when Dallas was struck, causing severe flooding. Kirk then weakened to a subtropical storm and dissipating on October 5.

Due to the heavy rainfall and flooding, 969 people were killed, over 6,700 people were injured, and $84.63 billion (2018 USD) in damages was done. Due to record economic losses and damage, Kirk was retired from usage and replaced with Kevin for the 2024 season.