Tag: natural disasters

States brace for disasters as pandemic collides with hurricane season

Emergency management officials fear a terrible combination of natural disasters could lead to a fresh spread of the coronavirus.

Officials from Florida to Missouri are hurriedly rewriting their disaster plans, worried that crowding large groups of evacuees in shelters could spread coronavirus during what’s expected to be a busy hurricane and tornado season.

Firefighters in Colorado are working social distancing into their strategy for tackling long-duration wildfires. And New York City is spending $55 million on air conditioners for low-income seniors in public housing, to keep them away from cooling centers that draw hundreds during heat waves.

Though President Donald Trump sees the summer as a time of economic revival, emergency management officials fear a terrible combination of natural disasters could lead to a fresh spread of the coronavirus — and that the pandemic could, in turn, set back their work. Continue reading.

Extreme hurricanes and wildfires made 2017 the most costly U.S. disaster year on record

The following article by Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website January 8, 2018:

Fires in California and hurricanes in Texas and Puerto Rico caused massive damage in 2017. This is what it looked like from the air. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

This story has been updated.

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria combined with devastating Western wildfires and other natural catastrophes to make 2017 the most expensive year on record for disasters in the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Monday.

The disasters caused $306 billion in total damage in 2017, with 16 events that caused more than $1 billion in damage each. The bulk of the damage, at $265 billion, came from hurricanes. Continue reading “Extreme hurricanes and wildfires made 2017 the most costly U.S. disaster year on record”

2017 Set a Record for Losses From Natural Disasters. It Could Get Worse.

The following article by Hiroko Tabuchi was posted on the New York Times website January 4, 2018:

Roberto Figueroa Caballero’s home in San Juan, P.R., was destroyed by Hurricane Maria last year. Credit Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

Insurers are set to pay out a record $135 billion to cover losses from natural disasters in 2017, the world’s largest reinsurer said Thursday, driven by the costliest hurricane season ever in the United States and widespread flooding in South Asia.

Overall losses, including uninsured damage, came to $330 billion, according to the reinsurer, Munich Re of Germany. That tally was second only to 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami in Japan contributed to losses of $354 billion at today’s dollars.

Insured losses from weather-related disasters were at a high, making up most of the $135 billion. Munich Re executives warned that losses would continue to escalate.

“Some of the catastrophic events, such as the series of three extremely damaging hurricanes, or the very severe flooding in South Asia after extraordinarily heavy monsoon rains, are giving us a foretaste of what is to come,” Torsten Jeworrek, a Munich Re board member, said in a statement. Continue reading “2017 Set a Record for Losses From Natural Disasters. It Could Get Worse.”