Extreme rainfall, tornadoes and hail have helped set a record pace for $1 billion natural disasters in the United States through early August, and it’s possible a record may be set before the year is over.
At least 15 weather disasters have caused more than $1 billion in damage, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. Taken together, the disasters exceed $39.7 billion, NOAA said.
“A warming planet means that we need to be prepared for the impacts of climate change that are happening here and now,” said Sarah Kapnick, NOAA’s chief scientist.
Weather disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damage
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NOAA is still investigating several other potential billion-dollar disasters, including droughts, storms and floods, said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist and disaster expert at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
This month’s catastrophic fire in Maui will “almost certainly” be added to the list, Smith said. “There’s a reasonable expectation that 2023 could challenge or surpass 2020, just with the events we already have.”
At least 113 people have lost their lives in the disasters, not including the Maui fire, where the death toll stood at more than 100 on Aug. 18.
From 1980 to 2022, the annual number of billion-dollar disasters, adjusted for inflation, averaged 8.1. Over the past five years, the U.S. has averaged 18 billion-dollar disasters a year.
What are the most costly weather disasters?
Hurricanes and typhoons are examples of tropical cyclones, which are by far the most expensive catastrophic weather events in the United States.
