2017 Atlantic storm season churns up record devastation
This year’s U.S. Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most expensive ever, racking up $202.6 billion in damages since the formal start on June 1.
The costs tallied by disaster modelers Chuck Watson and Mark Johnson surpass anything they have seen in previous years. That shouldn’t come as a surprise: In late August, Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast, wreaking havoc upon the heart of America’s energy sector. Then Irma struck Florida, devastating Caribbean islands on the way. Hurricane Maria followed shortly afterward, wiping out power to all of Puerto Rico. And the season isn’t over yet: It officially ends Thursday.
“Given our infrastructure to-
day, the question is: Was 2017 unusual? I think we answered that pretty well,” said Watson, a modeler at Enki Research. “2017 wins no matter what you do.”
Here are statistics that show the unusual strength of this year’s storms:
The season delivered 17 named storms, 10 of which became hurricanes that altogether killed hundreds across the Atlantic basin. Though 2005 still holds the record with 28 storms, the intensity and dangerous paths of this year’s tropical systems caught even seasoned forecasters off guard.
For the first time in records, three Category 4 storms hit U.S. shores, with Harvey becoming the first major hurricane to slam the country since 2005.
Harvey also set a new tropical rainfall record: just over 60 inches in Texas, said Michael Bell, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University.
Hurricane Irma, which bowled over the Florida Keys in September before threatening Tampa, set a record by maintaining Category 5 strength for 37 hours. That broke the old mark of 24 hours set by Typhoon Haiyan, Bell said.
Worldwide, storms caused $369.6 billion of damage, the second-most costly year since 1960.
This season is “in the top 10 in most of the metrics we use to measure hurricane activity,” Bell said.
And that doesn’t include Ophelia, a “crazy storm” that maintained hurricane strength within 12 hours of nearing Ireland, said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground in Ann Arbor, Mich. It was the worst tropical system to threaten Ireland since 1961.
Watson’s storm costs are based on physical damages, cleanup expenses and lost business activity that isn’t recovered within a year.
“Megacities such as New York City, Houston, or Miami ... or the incredible dense infrastructure around Hong Kong in China are susceptible to a single event causing in excess of $100 billion in damages,” Watson and Johnson, a statistics professor at University of Central Florida, wrote in a study.