Second costliest year on record for severe weather, with 11
separate billion-dollar disasters, NOAA reports.
Severe weather cost
the nation $110 billion in damages in 2012, the second-costliest in history,
according to disaster information released June 13 by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
All told the United
States saw 11 weather and climate disasters last year with losses exceeding $1
billion in damages.
The total puts 2012 second in total damages behind 2005, which saw four devastating hurricanes, including Katrina and Rita, and incurred $160 billion in costs.
Hurricane Sandy was
responsible for more than half of 2012's total, with approximately $65 in
claims. The Midwest drought soaked up another $30 billion.
Sandy also incurred the
worst loss of life, with more than 130 fatalities tied to the storm that
engulfed nearly 500 miles along the East Coast.
But heat waves last
year caused more than 100 deaths, and the largest drought in the United States
since the 1930s had the federal government declaring drought disasters in 2,600
of the nation's 3,143 counties.
Drought conditions
also led to several devastating wildfires that burned more than 9 million acres
in 2012, NOAA reported.
The 11 billion-dollar
disaster events in 2012 rank second behind the 14 events in 2011. Those 11
events killed more than 300 people and had "devastating economic
effects" on the regions impacted, NOAA said.
The Daily Climate is
an independent news service covering climate change. Contact Douglas Fischer at
dfischer [at] DailyClimate.org