Two weeks ago, we told you about the strongest storms to impact Virginia in 2022. Now, we have a recap for the United States as a whole.
The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has released their 2022 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters report.
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There were 18 events that caused at least $1 billion in damage last year, which ranks third on record. When you go by how much the damage cost, the rank is the same — third on record. The total cost of the 18 disasters was $165 billion.
Unfortunately, 474 people lost their lives from these disasters in 2022. That number ranks eighth on record, with records kept back to 1980.
By far, the costliest storm this year was Hurricane Ian. You may remember that we received remnant rain and strong winds from it during late September.
Ian caused nearly $113 billion in damage. Western drought and wildfires, along with severe storms and a derecho in the Midwest rounding out the top five.
Overall, there have been 341 billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. since 1980. Those disasters have killed more than 15,000 people and cost more than $2 trillion.