Costly disastersU.S. 2011 billion-dollar disasters

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that it has recalculated the number of weather disasters in the United States which passed the billion dollar mark. NOAA added two disasters, pushing the 2011 tally to twelve billion-dollars-or-more disasters.

The agency says that the aggregate damage total of these twelve 2011 weather/climate disasters as approximately $52 billion. This record year breaks the previous record of $9 billion-dollar weather/climate disasters in one year, which occurred in 2008.

These twelve disasters alone resulted in the loss of 646 lives, with the National Weather Service reporting more than 1,000 deaths across all weather categories for the year.

Previously only ten events were reported. The two new billion-dollar weather and climate events added to the 2011 total include:

• The Texas, New Mexico, Arizona wildfires event, now exceeding $1 billion, had been previously accounted for in the larger Southern Plains drought and heat wave event. This is in line with how NOAA has traditionally accounted for large wildfire events as separate events.
• The 18-22 June Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes and Severe Weather event, which just recently exceeded the $1 billion threshold

NOAA says it continues to collect and assess data regarding several other extreme events that occurred this year including the pre-Halloween winter storm that impacted the Northeast and the wind/flood damage from Tropical Storm Lee.

Currently, these events are not over the $1B threshold using the available data.

The San Francisco Chronicle lists the 2011 dozen billion-dollar disasters:

• Wildfires in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona from spring to fall. Losses are more than $1 billion, at least five deaths.
• Hurricane Irene in most of the East Coast in August. Losses exceed $73 billion with at least forty-five deaths.
• Flooding in the upper Midwest along the Missouri and Souris Rivers in the summer. Damages are more than $2 billion, with at least five deaths.
• Flooding on the Mississippi River in spring and summer. Losses are at $3 billion to $4 billion with at least two deaths.
• Drought and heat wave in the southern plains and Southwest from spring to fall. Losses are near $10 billion.
• Tornadoes and severe storms in the Midwest and Southeast from 18 to 22 June. They caused more than $1.3 billion in damage and killed at least three people.
• Tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast from 22 to 27 May. These killed 177 people and caused more than $9.1 billion in damage.
• Tornadoes in the Southeast and Ohio Valley from 25 to 28 April. These killed 321 people and caused more than $10.2 billion in damage.
• Tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast from 14 to 16 April. These killed thirty-eight people and caused more than $2.1 billion in damage.
• Tornadoes in the Southeast and Midwest from 8 to 11 April. These caused more than $2.2 billion in damage.
• Tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast on 4 and 5 April. These caused more than $2.8 billion in damage and killed nine people.
• The Groundhog Day blizzard killed thirty-six people and caused damage greater than $1.8 billion.