US Catastrophes: Facts, Trends and Impact

The US saw 97 natural disasters as of 2021. These natural disasters caused around 770 fatalities in the same year. These range from different perils such as severe thunderstorms, wildfires, flooding, winter storms, and tropical cyclones. A natural catastrophe, or natural disaster, is an extreme event that originates from environmental factors, such as tornadoes or earthquakes. However, not all natural events count as disasters. For an event to qualify as a natural catastrophe, the event must cause insured property losses of at least $25 million, ten deaths, 50 injuries or 2,000 claims.

Understanding natural calamities and their frequency are vital, as knowledge can help you prepare for the worst. Purchasing homeowners insurance and making an emergency exit plan are some of the better-informed decisions you can make to help mitigate natural catastrophes' damages.

Natural disasters encompass disasters following geological and meteorological events. In other words, they fall outside of human control. However, not all Acts of God are covered by insurance policy standards. For an event to qualify as a natural catastrophe, it must result in insured property losses of $25 million or more, ten deaths, 50 injuries or 2,000 insurance claims.

With this information in mind, explore the natural disaster statistics in the U.S.

Source: Insurance Information Institute

The table above shows the prevalence of certain catastrophes. For instance, tropical cyclones cause the most economic damage at a staggering $79 million but occur only four times a year on average. Meanwhile, flooding causes the least losses but occurs three times as often.

Severe thunderstorms make up over 65% of natural calamities in the country, but they don’t occur in all states. After all, weather conditions vary nationwide. For instance, Texas is one of the most prone states to natural calamities such as tornadoes, riverine flooding, hurricanes and hail.

Knowing the trend of natural disasters in your area can inform your disaster preparedness plan based on your location.

To jumpstart your research, here are the most common disasters by U.S. region:

• West Pacific: Earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, tsunamis, landslides
• West Mountain: Earthquakes, wildfires, winter storms
• Midwest: Earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires
• South and Southeast: Earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes, hurricanes
• Mid-Atlantic and New England: Hurricanes, winter storms
• U.S. Territories: Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions

Based on these statistics alone, residents in the West (Pacific) parts of the U.S. face the most natural calamities.

Insurance companies state that a natural event must have resulted in at least ten casualties, 50 injuries, 2,000 claims on structural damages or $25 million in property losses. Otherwise, its underwriters might not classify the instance as a qualified natural disaster. As a policy owner, studying this information will help you gauge the likelihood of insurers approving and rejecting claims.

Source: Insurance Information Institute

When computing the average annual deaths caused by natural disasters, it’s vital to consider frequency. For instance, roughly 60 severe thunderstorms hit the U.S. annually and caused over 160 fatalities in 2021 alone. Alternatively, wildfires, droughts and heatwaves don’t occur as often, but in 2021, they caused over 220 deaths, and the year prior, 43 deaths.

While many catastrophes happen in the U.S., some are worse than others. For instance, Hurricane Katrina caused roughly $180 billion in damages, making it the most destructive hurricane to hit the U.S.

Take a look at some of the worst natural catastrophes to happen below.

∗Dollar figures adjusted for inflation

Although natural events are only defined as catastrophes if they meet certain criteria, you’ll find that most qualified catastrophes have caused way more than $25 million in damages, especially in recent years. Statistics show annual weather and climate disaster losses have exceeded $10 billion since 2015.

Source: National Centers for Environment Information

The graph above showcases how, in recent years, natural disasters have been reaching new all-time highs in estimated economic damages. Between 2017 and 2021, losses ranged from $106 billion to $366 billion, with 2017 having the highest costs. These were the years the most infamous natural catastrophes occurred, like hurricanes Ida, Harvey, Maria and Irma.

Source: Insurance Information Institute

Insurance plays a critical role in post-disaster recovery. The graph above shows that the millions of policyholders affected by hurricanes in 2017 filed over $144 billion in property damage claims. Thankfully, losses weren’t nearly as high in the other years. However, the average homeowner would have had trouble recouping their losses had they decided to go without insurance.

No one can accurately predict when disasters strike. However, you'll better understand your insurance needs by understanding homeowners' average losses during turbulent times.

A natural catastrophe, or natural disaster, is an extreme event that originates from environmental factors, such as tornadoes or earthquakes. However, not all natural events count as disasters. For an event to qualify as a natural catastrophe, the event must cause insured property losses of at least $25 million, ten deaths, 50 injuries or 2,000 claims.

Understanding natural calamities and their frequency are vital, as knowledge can help you prepare for the worst. Purchasing homeowners insurance and making an emergency exit plan are some of the better-informed decisions you can make to help mitigate natural catastrophes' damages.

Catastrophes are common depending on their location, with their frequency and severity varying in each state. For instance, tornadoes are the top climate risk in 304 metro areas, such as Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX and Sioux Falls, SD.

Natural catastrophes are unpredictable and uncontrollable. Here are a few of the most commonly asked questions on this subject.

Understand your area’s level of risk to natural catastrophes and how to prepare for them by visiting MoneyGeek’s other related articles.

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