Billion Dollar Weather Disasters Continue To Pile Up In The United States

The severe flooding during July in Vermont was one of 23
United States disasters so far this year that 
cost at least $1 billion. 

 Every month, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information update their list of weather disasters so far this year that cost at least $1 billion.  

The last update was bad, really bad.

They've confirmed eight new billion dollar disasters, so far this year. That brings the total number of billion dollar weather disasters in the United States to 23. The previous record for the highest humble row $1 billion disasters for an entire year was 22, in 2020. 

According to NCEI:

"For this year-to-date period, the first eight months of 2023 rank highest for disaster count, ahead of 2020 with 16 disaster. The total cost of these events exceeds $57.6 billion, and they have resulted in 253 direct and indirect fatalities."

By the way, the list of billion dollar disasters is inflation adjusted. So if a disaster caused, say $800 million in 1980 dollars, it would now be included in the tally of billion dollar disasters. 

The Washington Post summarizes the trend: 

"While the United States has experienced an average of about eight billion disaster annually for the past four decades, in the past five years, that average has jumped to nearly 18 events annually. Five of the past six years have seen total losses in excess of $100 billion, when adjusted for inflation."

One of the disasters added to this rogues list of calamities was Vermont's catastrophic flood, though NOAA put that disaster under the umbrella of "Northeast Flooding and North Central Severe Weather."  Apparently, while Vermont and New York and some other Northeast states were drowning in mid-July, the north central states were being pummeled by severe thunderstorm winds and hail.

The most recent addition of the list was Hurricane Idalia in Florida at the end of August.  

Climate change of course plays a role in the increasing number of disasters. But it definitely is not the only one 

People continue to flock to and build in many vulnerable locations, such as storm-prone coastlines, the edge of dry forests that can erupt into flames and in spots that can drown when nearby rivers rise.  

There will probably be more before the year is out. Remember, we have the rest of September, along with October, November and December to get through.  A couple billion dollar disasters might have already happened. NOAA is still analyzing the costs of droughts in the Midwest and South and Hurricane Hilary in the Desert Southwest. 

Yes, 2022 Is A Year Strewn With Tons Of Mega Weather And Climate Disasters

Devastation in Fort Myers Beach, Florida after Hurricane Ian.
The hurricane was the most expensive natural disaster to hit
the world so far this year. 

 If you feel like your news feed this year has been filled with reports of huge weather and climate disasters, you're spot on. 

A report earlier this month by insurance broker Aon indicates the world has endured at least 29 disasters that cost $1 billion or more, as Yale Climate Connections reports. 

Of course, the costs of the disasters are still being tallied. Some of them, like droughts, are still ongoing.  

The most expensive disaster so far this year was Hurricane Ian in Florida, with well over $20 billion in damage. Some estimates are that Ian's tally could end up closer to $100 billion. 

Drought damage, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, have so far cost $38.4 billon.  

We've seen an increase in disasters each costing $20 billion or more in recent years. As Yale Climate Connections states: "This is greatly concerning, as mega-disaster are likely to overwhelm local resources needed to respond and recover, threaten insurers with insolvency, and disrupt global supply chains."

The U.S. Treasury Department is launching an assessment of worsening extreme weather and the impact this is having on insurance rates.  

Insurance is threatening to become unaffordable, or already is unaffordable, for people due to industry losses in big disasters. 

Worse than the cost of disasters is of course the loss of human life. The 137 deaths associated with Hurricane Ian is of course tragic. 

But heat waves tend to kill many, many more people.  Extreme heat waves in Europe this year are estimated to have caused 16,000 excess deaths. 

Probably the most victimized nation with disasters this year is Pakistan.  An unprecedented spring and early summer heat wave there caused immense drought damage to crops.  It also rapidly melted glaciers, which ironically caused devastating flash floods in mountainous regions. Many of these floods were from "glacial outbursts."

Lakes would form behind large ice dams as glaciers rapidly melted in the heat. Then these ice dams would collapse, sending walls of water and debris into populated valleys below.

After that, Pakistan had an extreme monsoon season that flooded perhaps 60 percent of the nation. Flood water still lingers in some areas as it will take months for the water to completely drain away. 

In the United States, ,Hurricane Ian is by far the most expensive disaster this year. Drought comes in as the second most expensive U.S. disaster so far this year, with $4 billion in mostly crop damage and counting. 

Numerous severe weather and flood outbreaks in the spring and summer collectively caused at least $16 billion in damage in the U.S.

Of course, there's a couple months left to go in 2022, so these numbers could go up even more. There's still time for a late season hurricane, severe weather outbreaks sometimes hit the U.S. in the fall and early winter, and destructive windstorms sometimes sweep Europe in November and December.