US on pace to exceed record number of billion-dollar disasters in 2021
By
Zachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Oct 11, 2021 1:16 PM EST
As of Oct. 8, 18 billion-dollar disasters have occurred in the United States in 2021, with the country on pace to surpass 2020, which saw a record high of 22 billion-dollar disasters, according to a new report released Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In 2021, the cost of disasters in the country has already exceeded the economic cost of all of 2020's disasters. Weather and climate disasters have not only killed 538 people thus far this year, but they have also cost the U.S. $104.8 billion in damages. Of the 18 disasters, one was a drought, two were flooding events, nine were severe weather events, four were tropical cyclones, one was a wildfire and one was a winter storm.
In 2020, the 22 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the U.S. cost just under $100 billion in damages, according to NOAA.
The southern United States has been dealt a significant blow this year, with Hurricane Ida standing as the most damaging disaster of the year to date, costing at least $64.5 billion in damages and leading to 96 deaths. Ida caused near-total destruction in coastal Louisiana, where it made landfall before knocking out power to a significant part of the New Orleans area. Ida then tracked through the Northeast as a tropical rainstorm, spawning an EF3 tornado and record flash flooding in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, killing dozens.
Other tropical systems made the list too, with Hurricane Nicholas and Tropical Storms Elsa and Fred all causing more than $1 billion in damages after striking the Gulf Coast.
Ida was not the deadliest disaster of the year, though. That unwanted distinction goes to the still-ongoing drought and unprecedented June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which has killed at least 229 people.
Vehicles are underwater during flooding in Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from Tropical Rainstorm Ida that hit the area. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Compounding the economic toll that these disasters are taking on the U.S. is the increasing frequency of these devastating blows to the country. The time between billion-dollar disasters has dropped to just 18 days on average between 2016-2020, according to Climate Central's analysis of new NOAA data. The number of days between disasters has quickly accelerated; in the 1980s, a span of 82 days was the average time between billion-dollar disasters in the United States.
"The time between billion-dollar disasters was calculated by measuring the number of days between the start date of each disaster as recorded by NOAA/NCEI," Climate Central's Erika Freimuth said, explaining the methodology behind how the averages were calculated. "The difference in days was only for calendar year events, with the first event of the calendar year set as the first date."
Audrey Trufant Salvant stands near a casket that floated in floodwaters from a nearby cemetery to her home in Ironton, La., Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. A month after Hurricane Ida roared ashore with 150-mph (241-kph) winds, communities all along the state's southeastern coast — Ironton, Grand Isle, Houma, Lafitte and Barataria — are still suffering from the devastating effects of the Category 4 storm. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Since 1980, billion-dollar disasters have occurred in every U.S. state and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. With so many major disasters, the government's attention quickly pivots from disaster to disaster, inevitably leaving some communities behind.
"Everybody is at risk," said Sean Sublette, a meteorologist with Climate Central, which is a consortium of independent scientists and journalists based in Princeton, New Jersey. "But for those who are not of means, who are lower on the socio-economic ladder, they are going to be impacted the most, and that's why we are concerned about this from a climate perspective going forward, as the people who have traditionally contributed the least to the problem are disproportionally affected by it."
Data from Climate Central shows that the number of billion-dollar disasters every year is increasing, with the time between these disasters shrinking. (Climate Central)
According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is an “established fact” that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have “led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes since pre-industrial times.”
The same report states that, in a warming world, the intensity and frequency of heavy rains, major tropical cyclones and heat waves will continue to increase, inevitably producing more billion-dollar disasters.
Since 1980, the toll of disasters in the United States has been steep. With 308 billion-dollar disasters, the total economic cost of these events has exceeded $2 trillion, a figure that will only increase in the future.
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, DIRECTVstream, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeatherNOW is streaming on Roku and XUMO.
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News / Weather News
US on pace to exceed record number of billion-dollar disasters in 2021
By Zachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Oct 11, 2021 1:16 PM EST
As of Oct. 8, 18 billion-dollar disasters have occurred in the United States in 2021, with the country on pace to surpass 2020, which saw a record high of 22 billion-dollar disasters, according to a new report released Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In 2021, the cost of disasters in the country has already exceeded the economic cost of all of 2020's disasters. Weather and climate disasters have not only killed 538 people thus far this year, but they have also cost the U.S. $104.8 billion in damages. Of the 18 disasters, one was a drought, two were flooding events, nine were severe weather events, four were tropical cyclones, one was a wildfire and one was a winter storm.
In 2020, the 22 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the U.S. cost just under $100 billion in damages, according to NOAA.
The southern United States has been dealt a significant blow this year, with Hurricane Ida standing as the most damaging disaster of the year to date, costing at least $64.5 billion in damages and leading to 96 deaths. Ida caused near-total destruction in coastal Louisiana, where it made landfall before knocking out power to a significant part of the New Orleans area. Ida then tracked through the Northeast as a tropical rainstorm, spawning an EF3 tornado and record flash flooding in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, killing dozens.
Other tropical systems made the list too, with Hurricane Nicholas and Tropical Storms Elsa and Fred all causing more than $1 billion in damages after striking the Gulf Coast.
Ida was not the deadliest disaster of the year, though. That unwanted distinction goes to the still-ongoing drought and unprecedented June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which has killed at least 229 people.
Vehicles are underwater during flooding in Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from Tropical Rainstorm Ida that hit the area. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Compounding the economic toll that these disasters are taking on the U.S. is the increasing frequency of these devastating blows to the country. The time between billion-dollar disasters has dropped to just 18 days on average between 2016-2020, according to Climate Central's analysis of new NOAA data. The number of days between disasters has quickly accelerated; in the 1980s, a span of 82 days was the average time between billion-dollar disasters in the United States.
"The time between billion-dollar disasters was calculated by measuring the number of days between the start date of each disaster as recorded by NOAA/NCEI," Climate Central's Erika Freimuth said, explaining the methodology behind how the averages were calculated. "The difference in days was only for calendar year events, with the first event of the calendar year set as the first date."
Audrey Trufant Salvant stands near a casket that floated in floodwaters from a nearby cemetery to her home in Ironton, La., Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. A month after Hurricane Ida roared ashore with 150-mph (241-kph) winds, communities all along the state's southeastern coast — Ironton, Grand Isle, Houma, Lafitte and Barataria — are still suffering from the devastating effects of the Category 4 storm. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Since 1980, billion-dollar disasters have occurred in every U.S. state and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. With so many major disasters, the government's attention quickly pivots from disaster to disaster, inevitably leaving some communities behind.
"Everybody is at risk," said Sean Sublette, a meteorologist with Climate Central, which is a consortium of independent scientists and journalists based in Princeton, New Jersey. "But for those who are not of means, who are lower on the socio-economic ladder, they are going to be impacted the most, and that's why we are concerned about this from a climate perspective going forward, as the people who have traditionally contributed the least to the problem are disproportionally affected by it."
Data from Climate Central shows that the number of billion-dollar disasters every year is increasing, with the time between these disasters shrinking. (Climate Central)
According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is an “established fact” that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have “led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes since pre-industrial times.”
The same report states that, in a warming world, the intensity and frequency of heavy rains, major tropical cyclones and heat waves will continue to increase, inevitably producing more billion-dollar disasters.
Since 1980, the toll of disasters in the United States has been steep. With 308 billion-dollar disasters, the total economic cost of these events has exceeded $2 trillion, a figure that will only increase in the future.
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