U.S. Experienced 14 Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in 2018, According to NOAA

As part of its ongoing effort to track billion-dollar weather disasters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports there were 14 such events in the U.S. in 2018. Cumulatively, these events cost around $91 billion in damages. Both the number of events and their combined cost means 2018 ranks fourth highest since records began in 1980. Topping the list of disasters were Hurricane Michael, which caused $25 billion in damages, followed by the western U.S. wildfires and Hurricane Florence, which each caused $24 billion in damages. NOAA’s findings are similar to those from a report issued by reinsurance company Munich RE in early January (and included in the January 10 SRU), which noted that 2018 was the fourth costliest year globally since 1980 in terms of insured losses. It also identified that most of the costliest disasters occurred in the U.S. Read the report at NOAA.