© LYNE LUCIEN/THE DAILY BEAST
After a year of unprecedented
fires and
floods, natural disasters exacerbated by climate change will cost the United States more than $200 billion.
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and
Maria were among
the most expensive hurricanes in U.S. history, according to the disaster tracking group Enki Holdings. Combined with
a severe and unusually long wildfire season, the government will need to pay at least $216 billion in disaster relief, more than the annual gross domestic product of Portugal.
The disaster relief bill passed by Congress this fall only provides $36.5 billion to be split between both flood damage and wildfire fighting.
The vast majority of costs from natural disasters came from this year's hurricane season, which caused an estimated $206.6 billion in damage, the most expensive season on record according to a report released by Enki that used a computer simulator along with economic and infrastructure data to estimate the costs of every hurricane since 1871.
While 2005's Hurricane Katrina still ranks as the costliest hurricane to hit the U.S. at $118 billion, Harvey which brought 50 inches of rainfall to the Gulf Coast caused $92 billion in damage, while Irma and Maria cost $59 billion and $42 billion, according to the study.
Comment: The Daily Beast can't help itself: every report and consequence of extreme weather events must be blamed on manmade global warming. The fact that many Republicans, like Trump, deny manmade global warming (something about which they happen to be correct) just gives them the opportunity to sanctimoniously blame the "climate change deniers" for what no one can prevent. Convenient, yes, but slimy and just plain wrong. Sad.