A record-breaking number of natural disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damage cost the United States a total of $81 billion this year, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows, including a devastating wildfires in Hawaii, Hurricane Idalia in western Florida and a drought that killed more than 200 people across the South and Midwest.
Drought: A drought and intense heatwave that lasted from the beginning of April to the end of September swept a dozen states, caused $10.5 billion in damage and killed 244 people, making it the most expensive and deadliest natural disaster this year as a lack of rainfall killed crops, ranchers saw their livestock become too expensive to feed and low water levels in the Mississippi River impacted commerce.
Storms: Two days of severe storms in southern and midwestern states like Texas, Alabama, Indiana and Ohio killed 13 people in March and caused $5.9 billion worth of tornado and wind damage to homes, businesses and other infrastructure.
Maui fires: In Hawaii, hurricane-force winds sparked devastating fires that killed at least 97 people and leveled the historic town of Lahaina in the deadliest American wildfire since 1918—NOAA estimates the August fire storm to have cost $5.6 billion as thousands of homes, vehicles and businesses were destroyed and tourism halted in parts of Maui County for months before re-opening in November.
Tornadoes: An outbreak of tornadoes in the central states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and beyond killed 33 people and caused $5.5 billion in damages to homes, businesses, vehicles, agriculture and other infrastructure at the end of March to become the fourth most-expensive natural disaster of the year.
Hail: The fifth most-expensive weather event was a series of severe storms over six days that stretched from the Rocky Mountains to as far east as Kentucky and brought a dramatic hail storm to a large outdoor concert in Colorado (injuring roughly 100 people) and more than 60 tornadoes touched down in six states, causing $5 billion in damage and killing eight.
482. That’s how many people died from $1 billion climate disasters in 2023, according to NOAA.
Scientists have warned of an increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters as climate change continues to grip the globe. Rising water and air temperatures allow for rapid strengthening of hurricanes, more intense rainfall and quicker spreading wildfires, and study released in September showed that extreme weather events will also lower the quality of fresh water sources over time as they impact the concentration of nutrients, metals, microorganisms and plastics in rivers and streams. While 2023 brought the highest number of $1 billion disasters, it was not the most expensive year on record. Disasters last year cost almost twice as much — $165.1 billion as compared to the $81 billion of 2023 — but only 18 of those were billion-dollar events. NOAA calculates the cost of a natural disaster by analyzing the loss of buildings and their content; income losses to businesses; damage to vehicles and boats; damage to public assets like roads, bridges and levees; cost of fighting the disaster; and damage to agricultural assets, electrical infrastructure and offshore energy platforms — it does not factor in the costs of healthcare, damage to the supply chain or environmental degradation.
Every state in the country has experienced at least one $1 billion disaster since 1980. The central, south and southeast regions experience high-dollar disasters most frequently, NOAA reports, with at least some part of Texas experiencing more than 100 such events in the last 40 years. Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed New Orleans in 2005, is the costliest U.S. storm on record. Katrina caused $196.3 billion in damage (adjusted for inflation), according to NOAA. There were more $1 billion climate disasters in 2023 than in any other single year. The record was previously held by the year 2020, with 22.
