Billion-dollar Disasters
Weather and climate disasters, which are increasing in size and impact, are accelerating inequity.
U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events (inflation-adjusted)
Source: NOAA. Notes: Adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Due to an inherent delay in the accounting of damages, the 2023 number will increase in subsequent updates. Data includes events with less than $1 billion in damage at the time of the event, but which exceed $1 billion in damages after adjusting for inflation. These billion-dollar events account for >80% of the damage from all U.S. weather and climate events.
The number of climate disasters causing at least a billion dollars in damages has tripled since 2020 — from an annual average of 7 such large-scale disasters each year between 1980 and 2019 to an average of 22 such disasters annually from 2020 to 2023. Since 2020, Florida and Louisiana have experienced the largest damages per capita at over $5 billion per million residents. But, since 2020, every state has experienced one or more disasters with damages greater than $1 billion. In 2023, there were a record 28 billion-dollar climate disasters, causing $93 billion in damages all together. Local governments are rarely well-equipped to respond to the human needs for housing, transportation, and mental health services that last for months as communities struggle to rebuild after such disasters.
According to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, without significant steps to address and adapt to climate change, the size and frequency of climate disasters will increase, causing growing losses to property and infrastructure, and slowing our national economic growth. Along with impacts on human health and the environment, the annual economic losses could accumulate to hundreds of billions of dollars — more than the total economic output of many states.[1]
Disasters have been shown to increase inequity in part because low-income jobs and housing are more affected. In addition, marginalized groups, historically excluded from wealth-building opportunities, struggle to cope with the economic burdens of recovery or relocation.[2] Additionally, they are more likely to encounter inadequate or delayed investments in infrastructure and disaster recovery efforts, exacerbating the challenges they face.[3]
U.S. Global Change Research Program. (2017). Fourth National Climate Assessment. Globalchange.gov, 2(4) https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/
SAMHSA. (2017). SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center Supplemental Research Bulletin Greater Impact: How Disasters Affect People of Low Socioeconomic Status. SAMHSA. https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/dtac/srb-low-ses_2.pdf
Emrich, C. T., Aksha, S. K., & Zhou, Y. (2022). Assessing distributive inequities in FEMA’s Disaster recovery assistance fund allocation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 74, 102855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102855
