Deaths from weather disasters hit 10-year high in US
- 2021 was marked by ‘the second-highest number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters on record’, the US federal weather agency reported
- The death toll for the contiguous United States reached nearly 700, more than twice the number killed by natural disasters the previous year
Nearly 700 people died due to natural disasters in the contiguous United States in 2021 – the most since 2011, said a federal weather agency in a report released on Monday.
The year “was marked by extremes across the US, including exceptional warmth, devastating severe weather and the second-highest number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters on record”, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The death toll for weather-related disasters in the 48 mainland states plus the District of Columbia totalled 688, more than twice 2020’s tally of 262, the agency said.
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Twenty separate weather incidents cost the country US$1 billion or more, the second-most billion-dollar events recorded in a calendar year behind 2020, which saw 22, the agency said.