A couple married for 75 years has been left baffled after two devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic were named after them.
Harvey and Irma Schluter – aged 104 and 93 – said they ‘don’t know how’ both their names ended up being attached to the storms.
The Washington state couple met in the 1940s and lived through the Great Depression, Second World War, John Kennedy assassination and countless deadly hurricanes – though none has ever hit their Spokane home.
Harvey and Irma Schluter – aged 104 and 93 – said they ‘don’t know how’ both their names ended up being attached to the storms
The Washington state couple met in the 1940s and lived through the Great Depression, Second World War, John Kennedy assassination and countless deadly hurricanes
But speaking to the New York Times, Irma said it was ‘really sad’ that her namesake has smashed into the Caribbean and left at least 14 people dead.
She added: ‘I have no idea what I’d do; I’ve never been in that kind of a situation. ‘I’d try and help some people, I don’t know how.’
Irma – a stay-at-mother to foster children throughout her life – said she can’t remember ever being badly affected by extreme weather.
Harvey, who served in the US Army during the Second World War, spent 45 years as a barber and enjoys playing the banjo.
His hurricane namesake was the first major storm to reach the US mainland since Wilma in 2005.
It led to mass flooding in Texas and other parts of the south as 30,000 people were displaced and 71 killed.
Deadly: The storm has already killed at least 14 people
Hurricane Irma is currently off the coast of Cuba as it makes its way towards the Bahamas and the USA
The majority of Barbuda’s buildings were flattened when Hurricane Irma battered the tiny island with a population of 1,600 on Wednesday. The storm is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean
At least 71 were killed as a direct result of Hurricane Harvey which hit southeast Texas and the southern USA
The reason their names were chosen for this year’s deadliest hurricanes is because the World Meteorological Organization picks from a list of male and female monikers for Atlantic storms.
Hurricanes that do not cause too much damage are used again six later – but if they are more serious, the names are retired.
For this reason Harvey, which has been the name for six other storms since 1981, popped up again this year.
The name beginning with ‘I’ usually given to hurricanes after Harvey is ‘Irene’ – but because 2011’s Hurricane Irene was so devastating, the name was retired.