Hurricane Milton is the latest natural disaster projected to cost the US at least $1 billion, joining a growing list of such events this year. According to a climatologist at NOAA, the current count of billion-dollar extreme weather disasters in the US for this year is estimated to be around 23 or 24, a number that is subject to change as more data becomes available.
The climatologist mentioned that hurricanes Debbie, Helene, and Milton are included in the tally, with the possibility of additional severe summer storms being added. The anticipated costs of the impacts of hurricanes Helene and Milton alone are expected to be in the multiple tens of billions of dollars each.
Last year, the US experienced a record 23 disasters costing at least $1 billion by September, with a total of 28 such disasters in the entire calendar year, marking the highest number ever recorded.
The increase in year-round disasters and the intensification of storms are putting a strain on the federal budget. Despite FEMA receiving a recent allocation of $20 billion for response and recovery efforts, the agency's administrator has indicated that additional funding from Congress will be needed by December or January to avoid a temporary suspension of longer-term recovery operations.
NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, based in Asheville, North Carolina, was directly impacted by Hurricane Helene. The center is currently facing challenges as Asheville is without water, leading to a lack of cooling for its computer infrastructure. This situation means that the center will experience delays in updating its reports on weather, climate, and billion-dollar disasters for the coming weeks.
