Disaster cost record

A RASH OF natural disasters in 2017 cost the United States about $306 billion, making it the most expensive year on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

Storm- and climate-related devastation killed 362 people, nearly one person per day, and wounded hundreds more.

The staggering storm damage shattered the old record of $215 billion in losses set in 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast.