The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to a record for the number of weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. And there’s still four months to go on what’s looking more like a calendar of calamities.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. So far this year’s disasters have cost more than $57.6 billion and claimed at least 253 lives.
And NOAA’s count doesn’t yet include Tropical Storm Hilary’s damages in hitting California and a deep drought that has struck the South and Midwest because those costs are still to be totaled, said Adam Smith, the NOAA applied climatologist and economist who tracks the billion-dollar disasters.
“We’re seeing the fingerprints of climate change all over our nation,” Smith said in an interview Monday. “I would not expect things to slow down anytime soon.”
NOAA has been tracking billion-dollar weather disasters in the United States since 1980 and adjusts damage costs for inflation. What’s happening reflects a rise in the number of disasters and more areas being built in risk-prone locations, Smith said.
“Exposure plus vulnerability plus climate change is supercharging more of these into billion-dollar disasters,” Smith said.
FILE - Ryan Orosco, of Brentwood, carries his son Johnny, 7, on his back while his wife Amanda Orosco waits at the front porch to be rescued from their flooded home on Bixler Road in Brentwood, Calif., Jan. 16, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday, Sept. 11, that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group via AP)
FILE - destroyed homes are visible in the aftermath of a devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday, Sept. 11, that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - In this photo made in a flight provided by mediccorps.org, the remains of a destroyed home are visible in Keaton Beach, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Aug. 30, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday, Sept. 11, that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - People walk beside piles of debris, April 2, 2023, in the Indian Hills area of North Little Rock, Ark. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday, Sept. 11, that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. (Staci Vandagriff/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
FILE - Don Hawthorne walks across his flooded yard in unincorporated Pinellas County, Fla., after the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia moved by the area, Aug. 30, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday, Sept. 11, that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
FILE - Jewell Baggett walks amidst debris strewn across the yard where her mother's home had stood, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, on Aug. 30, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday, Sept. 11, that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Furniture and debris litter the inside of the destroyed vacation home of Ed Jacobs and his wife, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Sept. 1, 2023, days after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)