Climate change likely made hurricane Ian wetter and more intense and is probably responsible for extra damages of about U.S. $10 billion. In recent years, this nation has experienced, on average, more than one disaster each month that has caused over a billion dollars in damages. Until this past decade, the country rarely experienced a year with more than a handful of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. The total cost of U.S. billion-dollar disasters over 2017-2021 was $742.1 billion, a new record and nearly triple the 42-year inflation adjusted annual average cost. The billion-dollar disaster damage costs over 2012-2021 were also historically large: at least one trillion from 142 separate billion-dollar events. We can expect this to get worse with the current rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/09/01/the-rising-costs-of-extreme-weather-events/
www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2021-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historical
www.commondreams.org/views/2022/10/06/experts-say-climate-crisis-made-hurricane-ian-10-billion-more-destructive