2020 was a record-breaking year – literally.
With the United States involved in 22 disasters that caused 1 billion dollars in damages or more, 2020 shattered the record for most billion-dollar disasters by far. The previous record: 16 billion dollars set in 2011 and then tied again in 2017. This ranged from wildfires that ravaged the west to the devastating tropical cyclones that destroyed the Gulf coast and everything in between.
According to NOAA, the total number of damages in 2020 soared to 95 billion dollars and sadly over 260 Americans died during these tragedies. One of the most notable events: The wildfires in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. 2020 easily brought the most active wildfire year on record across the west, with the three largest wildfires in Colorado and 5 of the 6 largest wildfires in history in California. In total, the wildfires burned nearly 10.3 million acres in 2020, up almost 51% from the 2000-2010 total.
Something else worth noting: 2020 brought an abnormally high thirty named tropical cyclones, seven of which were billion-dollar disasters. Hurricane Laura was by far the costliest natural disaster of 2020, accounting for a total of 19 billion dollars in damages.
NOAA began recording billion-dollar natural disasters in 1980.
