2012 ranks as 2nd costliest year with 11 billion-dollar disasters causing more than $110 billion in damages

NCDC Releases 2012 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Information | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) National Climatic Data CenterSkip to main contentSkip to site searchHomeClimate InformationData AccessCustomer SupportAbout NCDCSearch Field: Home > News > NCDC Releases 2012 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters InformationNCDC Releases 2012 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Information Submitted by susan.osborne on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 10:41am

U.S. 2012 Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters. Full-size version also available.

According to NCDC’s 2012 weather and climate disasters information, 2012 saw 11 weather and climate disaster events each with losses exceeding $1 billion in damages. This makes 2012 the second costliest year since 1980, with a total of more than $110 billion in damages throughout the year. The 2012 total damages rank only behind 2005, which incurred $160 billion in damages due in part to four devastating land-falling hurricanes.

The 2012 billion-dollar events included seven severe weather and tornado events, two tropical cyclone events, and the yearlong drought and its associated wildfires. These 11 events killed over 300 people and had devastating economic effects on the areas impacted. With 11 events, 2012 also ranks second highest in total number of billion-dollar events behind 2011, which had 14 events.

The two major drivers of the damage costs in 2012 were Sandy at approximately $65 billion and the yearlong drought at approximately $30 billion. Sandy’s large size, with tropical storm force winds extending nearly 500 miles from the center, led to record storm surge, large-scale flooding, wind damage, and mass power outages along much of the East Coast.

The yearlong drought, which affected more than half the country for the majority of 2012, was the largest drought extent in the United States since the 1930s. U.S. Department of Agriculture Drought Disaster Declarations reached more than 2,600 of the Nation’s 3,143 counties. While drought impacts are often most costly to agricultural centers, their conditions also led to several devastating wildfires that burned over 9 million acres nationwide during 2012.

See NCDC’s Billion-Dollar Weather/Climate Disasters report for more information on the weather and climate events that have had the greatest economic impacts from 1980 to 2012.

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RMS pegs Irene insured losses at up to $5.5 billion (Reuters)

(Reuters) – Hurricane Irene caused between $2.5 billion and $5.5 billion in insured losses in the United States and the Caribbean, excluding flood claims that fall under federal insurance programs, catastrophe modeling company RMS said on Monday.

RMS's estimate falls roughly between those of its two main competitors, AIR Worldwide and Eqecat. AIR has estimated losses at $3.5 billion to $7.1 billion, while Eqecat's estimate is $1.8 billion to $3.4 billion.

At the highest end of those ranges, Irene would rank as one of the 10 costliest disasters in U.S. history as measured by insured losses.

Losses appear to have been limited by the nature of the damage Irene caused. In most places in the United States, the majority of the damage was flood-related. Such losses are covered by the National Flood Insurance Program, which writes nearly all of the homeowner flood insurance in the country.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; editing by John Wallace)

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Joplin Tornado May Cost Insurance Companies $2 Billion (ContributorNetwork)

Insurance claims numbers for the Joplin tornado are starting to come in and the statistics are mind-boggling. The Missouri Department of Insurance says more than $500 million worth of insurance claims have been paid out, nearly two-thirds of it to homeowners. More than $34 million has been paid in auto insurance claims. Businesses have received nearly $160 million for their properties.

In all, nearly 15,000 claims have been filed so far with another 2,000 expected. John M. Huff, director of the Dept. of Insurance, said those numbers will climb.

"This will be the largest insurance event in Missouri history, and these numbers confirm that the insurance industry is playing a vital role in Joplin's recovery. This is half a billion dollars already reinvested into the local economy, and we expect it to be three to four times that amount by the time all claims are settled," Huff says.

That means the final cost to insurers will be between $1.5 billion to $2 billion. That figure alone doesn't take into account trash removal, FEMA money or disaster assistance from various non-profit agencies being poured into Joplin's relief efforts.

Nor does the figure take into account volunteer hours spent helping to clean up debris. The economic impact of the tornado will be staggering no matter how you crunch the numbers.

In terms of time, in about 30 minutes the massive EF5 tornado destroyed billions of dollars of construction. Houses and stores that took years to build up as Joplin expanded to the east were destroyed in minutes or even seconds because of high winds.

It's difficult for me to wrap my mind around such a thing. In a year of huge disasters like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it's still hard to believe that something on this earth can destroy human lives in mere seconds.

Compared to other billion-dollar disasters in U.S. history, the tornado outbreak of May 22 to May 27 was highly destructive. The tornado did more damage than Hurricane Dolly in 2008. The outbreak from May 22 to May 27 may reach $7 billion in total damage.

The National Weather Service states disaster estimates, if they hold through the rest of 2011, will make 2011 the worst year on record since the government tracked insurance losses. Data goes back to 1980 for such disasters that have cost billions of dollars.

So far in 2011, nearly $32 billion has been lost in eight separate weather-related events. Last year, only three major events saw more than a billion dollars in damage. Hurricane season hasn't even gotten to its peak yet and it's expected to be more active than normal.

The statistics show what Americans already know about 2011--it's a bad year for weather extremes.

William Browning, a lifelong Missouri resident, writes about local and state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Born in St. Louis, Browning earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in Branson.

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