US economic losses from natural disasters soared in 2024, even as they eased globally

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Economic losses from hurricanes and other natural disasters soared in the U.S. last year and were above average globally, reflecting another year of costly severe storms, floods and droughts

Economic losses from hurricanes and other natural disasters soared in the U.S. last year and were above average globally, reflecting another year of costly severe storms, floods and droughts.

Damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton helped push total economic losses from natural disasters in the U.S. to $217.8 billion last year, according to insurance broker Aon PLC. That figure represents an 85.3% increase from 2023, when losses totaled about $117.5 billion. It's also the largest annual tally of economic losses from natural disasters since 2017.

Insured losses, or the portion of economic losses that are covered by insurance, also rose last year. They climbed 36% to $112.7 billion, the most since 2022.

Hurricane Helene tore across six southeastern states last fall, costing $75 billion in economic losses, mainly due to inland and coastal flooding. according to Aon. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida, causing some $25 billion in economic losses.

“In 2024, one of the big differences is we had significant U.S. hurricane events that happened,” said Liz Henderson, global head of climate risk advisory at Aon. «When those events happen, they affect a large area and they affect areas with large values in terms of properties and people and content. So the losses from those events tend to be significantly higher.”

At least two other hurricanes, several severe “convective” storms and a draught contributed to the losses from natural disasters in the U.S. last year.

In addition to the