The USA accounted for a really excessive share of natural disaster losses in 2021 (roughly US$ 145bn), of which some US$ 85bn have been insured. Both total and insured losses have been considerably greater than in the 2 earlier years (Overall losses 2020: US$ 100bn, 2019: US$ 52bn; insured losses 2020: US$ 67bn, 2019: US$ 26bn). In element:
Tornadoes
In December 2021, a collection of extreme storms throughout a number of states in the central and southeastern USA led to exceptionally excessive losses, particularly for the month of December. Dozens of violent tornadoes with wind speeds of as much as 310 km/h (190 mph) carved a path of devastation throughout six states. Especially exhausting hit was the city of Mayfield, Kentucky, the place a long-track, huge wedge-type EF4 twister roared by the neighbourhood. Large elements of the city, together with a candle manufacturing facility, have been fully destroyed. According to preliminary estimates, total losses quantity to round US$ 5.2bn, with projected insured losses of US$ 4bn. An estimated 90 individuals have been killed.
Tropical storms: The Atlantic hurricane season
The costliest natural disaster in 2021 was Hurricane Ida, which made landfall on 29 August 90 km south of New Orleans as a serious hurricane (Category 4, the second-most damaging), with wind speeds of round 240 km/h (150 mph). Tens of 1000’s of buildings have been broken or destroyed. The New Orleans levee system, which was strengthened following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, withstood the storm surges, thereby stopping a lot greater losses.
Hurricane Ida then tracked to the northeast, inflicting extreme flooding, in explicit in New Jersey and the New York City metropolitan space. Overall, Hurricane Ida precipitated losses of US$ 65bn, of which roughly US$ 36bn have been insured (55%). A complete of 114 individuals misplaced their lives.
Hard on the heels of the earlier record-setting 30 named tropical storms in 2020, storm exercise through the 2021 hurricane season was once more considerably above the long-term common (14.3 for the interval 1991 to 2020), with 21 named tropical storms.
Deep freeze
In February, an distinctive cold wave introduced icy temperatures so far as the southern USA. A temperature of -8°C (17°F) was recorded in the southern Texas metropolis of Houston. Although the state of Texas experiences a serious freeze occasion about as soon as a decade, the state’s power, infrastructure and buildings are sometimes inadequately ready for such situations. Millions of individuals have been left with out electrical energy. Overall, with losses of US$ 30bn (half of which have been insured), the occasion was the yr’s third-costliest natural disaster.
