US economic losses from natural disasters soared in 2024

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 addition to the severe storms in the U.S., deadly floods in the Valencia region of Spain and other natural disasters drove worldwide economic losses from natural disasters to $368 billion last year, according to Aon. That’s a 7.3% decline from 2023, but about 14% higher than the annual average going back to 2000. Global insured losses, meanwhile, climbed 15.1% to $145 billion.