Natural disasters
Munich Re: $133 billion in damage from hurricanes
Summer is hurricane season in the North Atlantic and Western Pacific. Hurricanes and typhoons can cause immense devastation. In the year that ended, the damage was exceptionally high.
According to preliminary estimates, hurricanes and typhoons caused immense total damage of $133 billion this year. This made this year’s storm season the most expensive since 2017, as geoscientists at reinsurer Munich Re announced.
The economic damage significantly exceeded both the ten-year average (89.2 billion dollars) and the 30-year average (62.6 billion dollars). The main cause was the severe hurricane season in the North Atlantic, which, according to Munich Re, caused total damage of $110 billion in North America alone.
“Helene” alone caused over $50 billion in damage
“Hurricane” and “typhoon” are different names for the tropical cyclones that form when seawater surface temperatures are high in the North Atlantic and northwestern Pacific. 18 hurricanes were recorded in the North Atlantic, eleven of which reached hurricane strength. The long-term average is twelve hurricanes.
The deadliest and costliest hurricane of the year was Helene, with wind speeds of up to 225 kilometers per hour, over 200 deaths and damage of $56 billion in several US states.
In the western Pacific, typhoons often hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, southeastern China and Vietnam during the summer months. According to Munich Re, the number of hurricanes in East and Southeast Asia was slightly below average at 25, but the damage was slightly above average at $22 billion.
Warm sea water promotes severe hurricanes
Meteorologists and climate scientists see a connection between increasing devastation caused by hurricanes and global warming. According to Munich Re, seawater temperatures in the North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico were close to or above the previously recorded temperatures for almost the entire storm season.
The experts at the DAX group point to studies according to which storms are becoming stronger and bringing greater amounts of rain with the extraordinary warming of sea water.
The sum of $133 billion cited by Munich Re refers to the estimated overall economic damage. Of this, 51 billion euros were insured, i.e. less than half.
Other natural disasters will also be very expensive in 2024
According to calculations by Munich Re, the insured losses from global natural disasters including floods, other storms and earthquakes around the globe have already exceeded the threshold of 100 billion euros before the end of the year this year.
The company is the world’s largest reinsurer and has operated its own geoscience department for decades to assess the risks of natural disasters.
dpa
Source: Stern
