x
Breaking News
More () »

Natural disasters caused record $306 billion in damage to U.S. in 2017

The year 2017 broke records set in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and other disasters caused billions of dollars in damages to the U.S.
In this NOAA-NASA GOES Project handout image, GOES satellite shows Hurricane Irma as it moves over Cuba and towards the Florida coast taken at 14:15 UTC on September 09, 2017.

A trio of monster hurricanes and a ferocious wildfire season led to the costliest year for natural disasters on record in the U.S. in 2017, with nearly a third of a trillion dollars in damage, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday.

The U.S. endured 16 separate weather and climate disasters with losses that each exceeded $1 billion last year, with total costs of about $306 billion, a new record for the country. It broke the previous record set in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and other disasters caused $215 billion in damage to the U.S.

Last year's disasters killed 362 people in the U.S., including Puerto Rico, NOAA said. However, NOAA climatologist Adam Smith said the death toll could increase based on information that continues to come in from Puerto Rico.

It was also the most expensive hurricane season on record at $265 billion and the costliest wildfire season on record at $18 billion, Smith said.

Hurricane Harvey racked up total damage costs of $125 billion, second only to Hurricane Katrina in the 38-year period of record keeping for billion-dollar disasters. Hurricanes Maria and Irma totaled $90 billion and $50 billion in damages, respectively.

Hurricane Maria now ranks as the third-costliest weather and climate disaster on record for the nation and Irma ranks as the fifth-costliest.

The announcement came at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Austin, Texas.

As for temperatures in 2017, for the third consecutive year, every state across the contiguous U.S. and Alaska was warmer than average.

Five states — Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolina — experienced their warmest year on record. Thirty-two additional states, including Alaska, had annual temperatures that ranked among the 10 warmest on record.

Before You Leave, Check This Out