A federal report found that there were 18 different weather and climate disaster events in the United States last year, resulting in more than $165 billion in damage and making 2022 the third-most expensive year on record going back more than four decades.
According to the ‘Assessing the US Climate in 2022’ report by the National Centers for Environmental Information [NCEI], last year also saw the third-highest disaster count in history.
Disaster With A High Price Tag
The centers counted six severe storms, three tropical cyclones, three hail events, two tornadoes, and one each for drought, flood, winter storm, and wildfire events in 2022, resulting in the deaths of 474 people.
The NCEI reported that 2022, with a price tag of more than $165 billion, ranked third in terms of total costs behind 2017 (hurricanes Harvey and Irma) and 2005 (hurricane Katrina). The amount could increase once the effect of a massive winter storm that struck the central and eastern US in December is fully taken into account.
The Western/Central Drought and Heat Wave were two of the costliest droughts on record, totalling up to $22.2 billion, and Hurricane Ian, which devastated parts of Florida in September, was ranked as the third-costliest US hurricane on the 43-year record, costing $112.9 billion. Hurricane Ian was one of three costly disasters that occurred in the decade.
Silver Lining Among Disaster Clouds
Andrew Siffert, senior vice president of catastrophe analytics at re-insurance broker BMS Group said, "Even with Ian, we saw building codes work in some of the hardest hit areas, but damage from water is still a pain point."
"Another piece of good news was the relatively low loss and the low number of large fires causing insured loss during the California wildfire season," he added. Although the current rain is temporarily beneficial, once the rains stop, fine fuel growth will undoubtedly increase the risk of future wildfires, according to Siffert.
Countries came to a historic agreement on a “Loss-and-Damages” fund to assist poorer countries with the costs of climate disasters at the UN climate conference in Egypt, known as COP27, but there are still no further details on the fund's size.
The next UN climate summit, COP28, scheduled for Dubai in 2023, will bring nations together once more under increased pressure to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or less.
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