После нас, хоть потоп - why is there хоть?

Question

So I was searching the translation of the famous expression "Après nous, le déluge" and saw on Wikipedia that it's translated as После нас, хоть потоп. Having not seen хоть used in this way before, I looked up the definition, but none of the usages seem to explain this:

1. at least, if only
2. for example, even
3. with relative pronouns forms indefinite (хоть кто, хоть где)
4. although (like хотя)
5. even if

(taken from Oxford English-Russian dictionary, excluding хотя бы and хотя бы что)

Could somebody explain a) why there is a need to insert хоть here, i.e. why not just После нас, потоп why would be the literal translation and b) what it signifies here? Thank you.

Answer 1

The difference is simple:

После нас - потоп means after us the flood - meaning just fact: after us there will be the flood.

On the contrary, после нас хоть потоп means after us even a flood - meaning “doesn't matter what would happen after us – even a flood, we don't care.”

Answer 2

The more accurate meaning of the word хоть here is I don't care about would it be. So the whole phrase by its meaning can be translated as After us it can be even a flood, I don't care