According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), 2017 ties the record year of 2011 for the most billion-dollar disasters since 1980. This total, however, does not yet include the costs for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, which are still being assessed. Excluding these events, in 2017 there were 15 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the U.S. These events included one drought event, two flooding events, one freeze event, seven severe storm events, three tropical cyclone events, and one wildfire event. Overall, these events resulted in the deaths of 282 people and had significant economic effects on the areas impacted. The NCEI is the nation's scorekeeper in terms of addressing severe weather and climate events in their historical perspective. As part of its responsibility of monitoring and assessing the climate, NCEI tracks and evaluates climate events in the U.S. and globally that have great economic and societal impacts. NOAA.