FLORIDA, United States (AFP) — Last year was the most expensive in the United States’ history for natural disasters, with a barrage of fires, freezes, floods and hurricanes that cost US$306 billion, according to a US government report yesterday.
In 2017, 16 disasters cost US$1 billion or more, and led to at least 362 deaths, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The death toll could be substantially higher, once Puerto Rico completes its review of deaths from Hurricane Maria, experts said.
The year far outpaced the previous record, set in 2005 with losses of US$215 billion largely due to Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita.
With a total price tag of US$265 billion, 2017 was the most expensive hurricane season on record, the report said.
Hurricane Harvey, which dumped some 50 inches (127 centimetres) of rain on Texas, cost US$125 billion, second only to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina in historical records of billion-dollar disasters, going back to 1980.
Hurricane Maria, which flattened much of Puerto Rico, cost US$90 billion, while Hurricane Irma, which ploughed into the Caribbean and Florida, cost US$50 billion.
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