From storms to wildfires, it’s already been a record catastrophic year for weather and climate disasters across the nation, and we’ve still got nearly four months to go, USA Today reports.
As of Monday, the US has endured a whopping 23 separate weather and climate disasters that have each led to at least $1 billion in damage, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.
That breaks the record of 22 set in 2020.
“These record-breaking numbers, during a year that is on track to be one of the hottest ever, are sobering and the latest confirmation of a worsening trend in costly disasters, many of which bear the undeniable fingerprints of climate change,” said Rachel Cletus of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which was not involved in the NOAA report, in a statement.
More than 250 people have been killed in the disasters, NOAA said. The total cost of these events exceeds $57.6 billion.
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.
Overall, NOAA said the U.S. has sustained 371 separate weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damage/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including consumer price index adjustment to 2023). The total cost of these 371 events exceeds $2.615 trillion.
RHM/PR
