US hit by 15 climate disasters this year so far, suffers billions in losses

The destructive storms battering Houston, the country's fourth-largest city, on the night of May 16 killed at least seven people

Washington: The United States was hit by 15 climate disasters in the first half of this year, each with losses exceeding $1 billion, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The nation’s premier meteorological agency said in a report released this week that the disasters consisted of 13 severe storm events and two winter storms, Xinhua news agency reported. Winter storms swept through the US Midwest and around the Great Lakes in January. Nearly 30 million people in the Midwest and around the Great Lakes were under a winter storm warning in early January.

---

On that day, wind-whipped snow hit the Chicago area, leaving thousands without power and leading to nearly a thousand flight and train cancellations. According to ComEd’s outage map, 2,268 power outages were reported across the city, affecting more than 96,000 customers. Powerful storms slammed the US West Coast in February.

On February 3, a severe storm system struck California, resulting in at least three fatalities, nearly 1,40,000 people without power, and millions under flood alerts for at least three days. The storm unleashed mudslides, flooded roadways, and triggered widespread power outages. On February 20, a storm hit California again, bringing heavy rain, snow, and wind, leading to devastating impacts, including destructive mudslides and floods. Severe storms battered the US South in April, stretching from Texas to Florida.

During a storm on April 11, one person was killed, more than 10 others injured, more than 100 homes and buildings were damaged, and hundreds of thousands of people were left without power across the area. In May, storms hit Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky, killing more than 20 people and leaving numbers in the aftermath.

According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the destructive storms battering Houston, the country’s fourth-largest city, on the night of May 16 killed at least seven people, including a mother of four who was driving in her vehicle but crushed by fallen trees. Over the Memorial Day weekend in May, at least 20 people were killed after storms hit the US states of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky. It was the deadliest tornado in Texas since 2015. A tornado ripped through suburban Detroit in early June.

The United States has sustained 391 weather and climate disasters since 1980, each causing damage of at least $1 billion. According to NOAA data, the total cost tops $2.7 trillion. Damage averaged roughly $8.5 billion annually from 1980 to 2023, with the average surging over the last five years to $20.4 billion.