Saturday, July 9, 2011

Billion-dollar disasters on the rise

Kimberley Schupp in WAFF News: Tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes are devastating natural disasters that could affect anyone. According to Insurance Center Associates, these natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more costly. Prior to 1987, the U.S. never experienced a natural disaster with insured losses greater than $1 billion. Since that time, there have been eight.

A new report from Kiplinger reveals the 10 states most at risk of a natural disaster. The rankings are based on estimates of each state's insured property losses across the past decade. Kiplinger provides financial services and publishes magazines and newsletters. The group named Louisiana as the No. 1 state for natural disasters.

Experts say climate changes and global warming are to blame for the extreme weather that has pummeled the U.S. in 2011. "Any single weather event is driven by a number of factors, from local conditions to global climate patterns and trends. Climate change is one of these. It is very likely that large-scale changes in climate, such as increased moisture in the atmosphere and warming temperatures, have influenced, and will continue to influence, many different types of extreme events, such as heavy rainfall, flooding, heat waves and droughts," Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center said.

According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, in the first six months of 2011 the U.S. experienced record-breaking floods and snowstorms, prolonged drought, and massive wildfires....

House destroyed by a 2011 tornado in Brimfield, Massachusetts, shot by Mass DEP, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

No comments: