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US sets record for billion-dollar weather disasters in a year — and there's still 4 months to go
Channel 3000 News/AP ^ | September 12, 2023 | AP Staff

Posted on 09/12/2023 6:51:07 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: weather
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Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field called the trend in billion-dollar disasters “very troubling.”

“But there are things we can do to reverse the trend," Field said. "If we want to reduce the damages from severe weather, we need to accelerate progress on both stopping climate change and building resilience.”

1 posted on 09/12/2023 6:51:07 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Is it adjusted for inflation?

A billion dollar disaster is easy to accomplish in Biden’s economy


2 posted on 09/12/2023 6:52:49 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Inflation will do that.


3 posted on 09/12/2023 6:52:52 AM PDT by JoSixChip (2020: The year of unreported truths; 2021: My main take away from this year? Trust no one.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I find Chris Field “very troubling”


4 posted on 09/12/2023 6:55:09 AM PDT by albie
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

If you measure disasters by dollars the US is going to win because we are large and have lots of expensive infrastructure all over the coasts of our country. If you measure by lives lost we are not close to the top. A billion dollar disaster does not mean there was a large storm. It just means the storm had a lot of Yachts and mansions and luxury cars in front of it.


5 posted on 09/12/2023 6:56:21 AM PDT by poinq
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Does the Inflation Reduction Act qualify as one of these billion plus dollar disasters?


6 posted on 09/12/2023 6:56:32 AM PDT by Track9 (You are far too inquisitive not to be seduced…)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Since when is a wildfire a weather incident???


7 posted on 09/12/2023 6:56:38 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Eccl 10:2 - The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

My sister rents a vacation place on the beach in SW Florida, from an old-timer there. Its all expensive houses and condos now.

I remember him saying - “70 years ago, no one wanted this land because you couldn’t farm on it and it was too remote.”

Now its got 30K people living there.


8 posted on 09/12/2023 6:56:44 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Didn’t read the article, of course, BUT! Did they include the Hawaii fires as ‘climate’ costs?


9 posted on 09/12/2023 6:57:16 AM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: ad ferre non, velit esse sine defensione)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Ahhhh. Now we have the truth.

I saw a similar headline earlier which proclaimed ‘record breaking disasters for 2023 & 3 months to go in the year’ and ignored it. Figures that $$ is the metric.

Smacks of the gaslighting on ‘mass shootings’.

*sigh*


10 posted on 09/12/2023 6:57:22 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: Blueflag

“Did they include the Hawaii fires as ‘climate’ costs?”

They did! And Arson (Re: Canadian Wildfires) now counts as a ‘climate issue.’

*Rolleyes*


11 posted on 09/12/2023 7:01:27 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: PGR88

Million dollar condos on the beach and traditional tidal inlets. Taxpayer subsidized insurance and FEMA funds readily available to eliminate risks.

No wonder God is unhappy and periodically tries to restore these places to what he intended...


12 posted on 09/12/2023 7:04:34 AM PDT by oldplayer
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

4 months to go. Does that mean 4 months for Bidenflation to drive up the cost numbers even more?


13 posted on 09/12/2023 7:06:01 AM PDT by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

A beached whale killed by an off-shore windmill creates a billion dollar clean-up.


14 posted on 09/12/2023 7:07:36 AM PDT by alstewartfan ("She looks like she's 19 years old, sitting there like a lady with her legs crossed." Creepy Joe)
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To: z3n

This is not big news. We have more people and more things to hit. And add inflation. So yeah…things will cost more.


15 posted on 09/12/2023 7:11:03 AM PDT by ealgeone
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Now one understands why the wildfires have been promoted to Protected Class Special Victim Status and allowed to burn and destroy.

So they can be used to “prove” climate change.


16 posted on 09/12/2023 7:16:08 AM PDT by I want the USA back (If genitals don't define gender, how does removing them affirm it? )
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To: ealgeone

Here, this is the first article I found when doing a search

https://www.fortunebuilders.com/million-dollar-home-loans-reach-record-level-38319/

Of course there are more million dollar home purchases than ever, just like there would be more billion dollar disasters, and more one hundred dollar steaks sold, and more trillion dollar spending bills. This is a terrible way of quantifying things without adjusting for inflation.


17 posted on 09/12/2023 7:18:16 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Weather is 24/7/365! It sure hell aint over in 4 months!


18 posted on 09/12/2023 7:21:26 AM PDT by Harpotoo (Being a socialist is a lot easier than having to WORK like the rest of US:-))
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Where’s the Goebbels pic? There was supposed to be a Goebbels pic here!


19 posted on 09/12/2023 7:23:14 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

They lump wildfires in with weather events, because in their view ,the fires are caused by global warming.


20 posted on 09/12/2023 7:24:11 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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