America has already beaten the record for ‘billion-dollar’ disasters in a year – with
America has already set a record for ‘billion-dollar’ disasters in a given year – even with three months to go and the peak of hurricane season still remaining.
According to NOAA, which has been tracking billion-dollar weather disasters in the US since 1980 and adjusting costs for inflation, this year’s storms have already cost more than $57.6billion and claimed at least 253 lives.
The disasters include the Maui wildfires, Hurricane Idalia in Florida and flooding in the Northeast.
There have been 23 billion-dollar storms this year, beating the previous record of 22 in 2020, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA applied climatologist Adam Smith, who tracks the billion-dollar weather events, said Monday he does ‘not expect things to slow down anytime soon.’
‘We’re seeing the fingerprints of climate change all over our nation,’ he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been tracking the number of billion-dollar weather disasters in the US since 1980. So far in 2023, there have been 23 ‘billon-dollar’ weather events
A circle of flame engulfs Lahania, Hawaii. A devastating August 8 wildfire destroyed the seaside town, claiming some 3,000 structures and at least 115 lives
California experienced a record amount of flooding this year, as about a dozen atmospheric rivers hit the formerly dry state
Cars sit stranded in floodwaters in Canton, Michigan after August storms left parts of the Detroit area flooded
The organization listed an August 11 Minnesota hailstorm and severe storms in early August and mid-July across the Midwest and parts of the South among the 23 costly weather events.
The organization has not yet taken into account the damage brought on by Tropical Storm Hilary, which walloped California along the coast, as well as parts of Nevada and Washington.
Droughts in the South and Midwest have also yet to be added to the count, as costs are still being totaled.
Each of the weather events listed have cost at least $1billion in damage.
Smith said the shockingly high number of costly weather events is both due to a rise in the number of disasters, and because more areas are being built in risk-prone locations.
‘Exposure plus vulnerability plus climate change is supercharging more of these into billion-dollar disasters,’ Smith said.
‘This year, a lot of the action has been across the center states, north central, south and southeastern states.’
He added he thought the record established in 2020 would last for many years because the 22 billion-dollar disasters that year far surpassed the previous record of 16.
After this year’s partial results, however, he no longer believes new records will hold for very long.
Weather experts say the country needs to become more adaptable to weather events, because there are only more each year.
‘The climate has already changed and neither the built environment nor the response systems are keeping up with the change,’ Former Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate said.
In an aerial view, mud surrounds homes damaged in a flash flood caused by a monsoonal thunderstorm that quickly dropped three inches of rain on a region still recovering from Tropical Storm Hilary on September 2 in Thermal, California
Pick up trucks and debris lie strewn in a canal in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30
Tallahassee residents fill sandbags as they prepare for the worst with Hurricane Idalia heading towards Florida on August 29
Young men help move debris in Kent County, Michigan, in August after at least four tornadoes touch down in Michigan, powered by winds that killed multiple people
A Target shopping cart sits abandoned on the road beside a downed tree near the closed department store after freezing rain blasted through Central Texas in February
A family assesses the damage to their home after a winter tornado in Houston
A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after a severe storm swept through Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 31
Yards along Soquel Creek in Capitola Village are flooded by storm surge on January 5 in Capitola, California
University of Arizona climate scientist Katharine Jacobs said ‘adding more energy to the atmosphere and the oceans will increase intensity and frequency of extreme events.’
‘Many of this year’s events are very unusual and in some cases unprecedented.’
Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field called the rise of billion-dollar disasters ‘very troubling.’
‘But there are things we can do to reverse the trend,’ he added. ‘If we want to reduce the damages from severe weather, we need to accelerate progress on both stopping climate change and building resilience.’