U.S. Disaster Costs Doubled in 2020, Reflecting Costs of Climate Change

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/climate/2020-disaster-costs.html

Source:  By Christopher Flavelle, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: The $95 billion in damage came in a year marked by a record number of named Atlantic storms, as well as the largest wildfires recorded in California. ...Topping the list was Hurricane Laura, which caused $13 billion in damage when it struck Southwestern Louisiana in late August. Laura was one of the year’s record number of 30 named storms in 2020; 12 of those storms made landfall, another record. The storms caused $43 billion in losses, almost half the total for all U.S. disasters last year. The next costliest category of natural disasters was convective storms, which includes thunderstorms, tornadoes, hailstorms and derechos, and caused $40 billion in losses last year. The derecho that struck Iowa and other Midwestern states in August caused almost $7 billion in damage, destroying huge amounts of corn and soybean crops. Wildfires caused another $16 billion in losses.... 

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