Billion-dollar disasters

$1 billion disasters: 2017 is already one of the worst

This year, 16 separate weather and climate disasters have each caused at least $1 billion in damages in the U.S.,

Ahurricane dumped record rainfall on Texas, another left nearly all of Puerto Rico without electricity and intense wildfires killed more than 40 people in California — all in the past two months. This year, 15 separate weather and climate disasters have each caused at least $1 billion in damages in the USA, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. On top of that, initial estimates from AccuWeather put the damage from the Northern California wildfires at more than

$1 billion. If so, 2017 would tie 2011 for the most billion-dollar disasters, according to NOAA. And the year’s not over. Hurricane Harvey will probably top all of this year’s disasters with a price tag of about

$190 billion. The official death toll, at 48, in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria could rise into the hundreds, according to a report Wednesday from Vox. After ravaging the Caribbean island of Dominica, Hurricane Irma took aim at the U.S. Virgin Islands and then slammed the Florida Keys and the U.S. mainland as a major hurricane. In all, three Category 4 hurricanes (Harvey, Irma and Maria) made landfall in the USA and its territories, a record for a single year.

SUSAN BROADBRIDGE, HATTIESBURG AMERICAN A tornado hit Hattiesburg, Miss., in January.

RODNEY WHITE AND MICHAEL ZAMORA, THE DES MOINES REGISTER Residents walk through flooded streets back to their homes Sept. 12 after Hurricane Irma passed through Florida.