Extreme hurricanes and wildfires made 2017 the most costly U.S. disaster year on record - The Washington Post

(Photo credit:  Hurricane Katrina, as pictured in the Gulf of Mexico at 21:45 UTC on August 28, 2005. From a NOAA website pag)

A fascinating look at the year behind us in terms of budget impacts.

$306 billion in damages, mostly from hurricanes.  The base budget for FEMA is $0.6 billion and the "Major Declarations" budget is $6.7 billion.  Source Politifact Link  The politifact article goes on to explain that Moody's Analytics estimates that Harvey would cost $150 billion and Irma $200 billion. I have not seen any estimates for the wildfire fighting costs and damages in Calfornia/December.

At $150 billion, that is 22.4x of the annual appropriation for 'Major Declarations'.

The WaPo article ends with the following data:

According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress made 14 supplemental appropriations from 2004 and 2013, totaling $89.6 billion. That includes $43 billion in 2005 alone, the year Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita hit the United States.

It would seem to me that there is a real need for new funding sources which help the country to rebound from climate related events, and that they are falling far short of the funds needed, both in their budgeting and in their re-imbursements.

Extreme hurricanes and wildfires made 2017 the most costly U.S. disaster year on record - The Washington Post:



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