Toll of the natural disasters in the U.S

Magazine Issue:

Magazine date:

May 2019

The year 2018 was milder than 2017. The "Woolsey Fire" and "Camp Fire" in California are the most expensive natural disasters recorded in the previous year. Occurring in November 2018, this episode of fire caused 16.5 billion USD in damages including 12.5 billion USD to be borne by insurers.

Catastrophes naturelle USA During the previous year that is in 2017 hurricane season broke all records with 17 tropical storms lashing the Atlantic basin.

Ten of these have been classified as hurricanes and two other similar events have reached the highest category, i.e., 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Toll of the natural disasters in the U.S: 2018, a mild year

n 2018, the United States reported 108 events, classified as natural disasters [4], totaling 81.9 billion USD in economic losses, slightly less than half of the losses sustained in 2017. Insured losses are also down by nearly 40% compared to 2017.

Breakdown of 2017-2018 losses by event type

	Number of natural catastrophes		Economic losses (in billions USD)		Insured losses (in billions USD)		Human losses
	2017	2018	2017	2018	2017	2018	2017	2018
Severe thunderstorms	50	56	26	18.8	18	14.1	85	66
Winter storms and cold waves	13	9	2.7	4.2	1.1	3	24	26
Floods	12	20	0.4	2.6	0.08	1.2	14	49
Earthquakes	2	2	-	0.5	-	0.4	1	-
Tropical cyclones	5	5	128 ⁽¹⁾	30.4	50	15.6	170	107
Forest fires. heat waves. drought	21	16	20	25.4	15	18	62	107
Other catastrophes	-	-	0.9	-	1.82	-	-	44
Total	103	108	178	81.9	86	52.3	390	399

⁽¹⁾Excluding hurricane Maria

Source : Munich Re

Toll of the natural disasters in the U.S: 2017, an exceptionally bad year

2017 was the first year to report three hurricanes of category 4 and above: Harvey, Irma and Maria, all of which hit the East Coast of the United States. An unprecedented event in the history of natural disasters in the U.S [5] . Hurricane Maria from 19 to 22 September 2017 caused very little loss in the United States. The majority of the economic damage amounting to 57 billion USD was mainly reported in Puerto Rico and for a small amount in the Dominican Republic.

According to Munich Re, the losses caused by natural events in the United States in 2017 amounted to 178 billion USD. Insured damage totaled 86 billion USD, that is more than triple the 26 billion USD insured losses in 2016.

Tropical cyclones, alone, accounted for 128 billion USD in economic losses, including 50 billion USD of insured losses. These amounts represented respectively 72% of total economic losses and 58% of total insured losses in the US market in 2017.

In December 2017, five major fires in Southern California destroyed more than 1 000 homes and buildings. One of these fires, the "Tubbs Fire", is designated as the largest ever wildfire in California. The "Tubbs Fire", disaster is poised to amount to 9.7 billion USD. For their part, the California authorities for insurance supervision gave the figure of 12 billion USD in losses for all fires reported between October and December 2017.

American States and territories most affected by disasters in 2017

	State/Territory	Insured losses (in millions USD)	Number of claims
1	Puerto Rico	26 894	560 900
2	Texas	22 229	1 136 750
3	Florida	16 469	1 177 050
4	California	15 209	173 650
5	Virgin Islands, United States	5 009	47 300
6	Colorado	2 274	236 800
7	Minnesota	1 652	145 600

Source: www.iii.org

The ten most costly natural disasters in the United States

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, called "the big one", stood for the very typical sample of extreme event. With 125 billion USD in economic losses and 61 billion USD in insured losses, Katrina is the most expensive disaster ever recorded in the United States.

Katrina is followed by the three devastating hurricanes of 2017 namely Harvey, Irma and Maria.

Date	Region	Natural catastrophe	Number of victims	Economic losses (in millions USD)	Insured losses (in millions USD)
August 2005	New Orleans	Hurricane Katrina	1 720	125 000	61 000
August-September 2017	Texas, Houston	Hurricane Harvey	88	95 000	30 000
September 2017	East Coast of the United States	Hurricane Maria ⁽¹⁾	108	57 000 ⁽¹⁾	29 000 ⁽¹⁾
September 2017	Florida, Miami	Hurricane Irma	128	33 000	20 000
October 2012	New York	Hurricane Sandy	127	65 000	29 000
August 1992	New York	Hurricane Andrew	-	15 500	24 852
September 2008	Texas, Houston	Hurricane Ike	86	30 000	19 000
January 1994	Northridge, Los Angeles	Northridge earthquake	61	44 000	15 000
November 2018	California	Fire	85	16 500	12 500
October 2005	Florida	Hurricane Wilma	21	16 000	11 000
September 2004	Florida	Hurricane Ivan	53	18 000	10 000
September 2005	Texas, Houston	Hurricane Rita	10	16 000	9 600

⁽¹⁾ The United States was hardly affected by hurricane Maria. The most important losses pertain to other unincorporated territories (Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic)

Source : Munich Re

U.S : Natural catastrophes and insured losses: 2008-2018

Year	Number of catastrophes	Economic losses (in billions USD)	Insured losses (in billions USD)	Human losses
2018	108	81.9	52.3	339
2017	103	178	86	390
2016	100	50	26	267
2015	89	28	17	325
2014	80	29	18	273
2013	75	26	16	226
2012	95	124	62	390
2011	84	75	43	844
2010	81	26	17	230
2009	84	26	14	225
2008	92	80	41	419

Source : https://natcatservice.munichre.com