Millions of dollars in American losses due to weather disasters last year

Washington-SANA

A new report revealed that the United States incurred losses of more than $165 billion as a result of severe weather in the country last year, as climate change led to sharp shifts in weather conditions.

And Bloomberg quoted the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as saying: 18 separate severe weather disasters in the United States last year incurred losses estimated at one billion dollars each, while Hurricane Ian was the most costly in these disasters by about $123 billion, bringing the total losses to $123 billion. America incurred as a result of climate fluctuations will reach more than $165 billion in 2022.

While the US Centers for Environmental Information affiliated with the administration said: The increasing number of severe weather events, the occurrence of sudden unexpected or unseasonal weather changes, and extreme weather conditions indicate that very high air activity in recent years has become the new normal.

And with the rise in the cost of major disasters in America to more than $165 billion, the year 2022 ranked third in total costs after 2017, which witnessed Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the year 2005, which witnessed Hurricane Katrina. And the entire eastern United States last December.

The report indicated that the numbers do not reflect the total cost of weather and climate events in the United States last year, but only those associated with major disasters, each causing damages exceeding one billion dollars.

The report indicated that events with losses amounting to billions of dollars accounted for about 85 percent of the total damages caused by all weather and climate events recorded in the United States in 2022.

Hurricane Ian, which swept Florida last September, was the most costly, causing $122.9 billion in losses and 152 deaths, while the summer heat wave and drought that swept large parts of the center and west of the country caused $22.2 billion in losses and 136 deaths, leaving Reservoirs such as Lake Mead are severely depleted.

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