U.S. hit by $15b climate disasters in 1st half of 2024

The United States was hit by 15 climate disasters in the first half of this year, each with losses exceeding 1 billion U.S. dollars, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reported Xinhua.

These disasters consisted of 13 severe storm events and two winter storms, the nation's premier meteorological agency said in a report released earlier this week.

The total cost of these events exceeded 37 billion dollars, which led to 106 people dead.

In June alone, four climate disasters were registered, including two hail events that impacted Texas and Colorado, and a tornado outbreak in Central United States.

The United States has sustained 391 weather and climate disasters since 1980, with overall damages of each reaching or exceeding 1 billion dollars. The total cost tops 2.755 trillion dollars, according to NOAA data.

The annual average from 1980 to 2023 is 8.5 billion-dollar climate events, and the annual average for the most recent five years (2019-2023) is 20.4 billion-dollar events.