On October 8, 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) announced that the number of billion-dollar plus disasters so far in 2021 had achieved a new record high of 18 as of the end of September, putting 2021 on a pace to exceed the record number of billion-dollar plus disasters set in 2020. So far, these disasters have taken 538 lives, which is more than twice the number of deaths from all billion-dollar disasters in 2020. The damage to property and infrastructure thus far in 2021 is $104.8 billion and growing, exceeding the damage toll from billion-dollar disasters in all of 2020 of $100.2 billion. This year marks the seventh year in a row where the United States has experienced ten or more billion-dollar disasters.
A graphic summarizing the disasters from the NOAA report is below and the report can be obtained at https://www.noaa.gov/news/us-hit-with-18-billion-dollar-disasters-so-far-year.
