Hurricanes, drought, floods
Natural disasters caused damage of 250 billion euros in 2022
Aerial photo shows severe damage from Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida
© Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Hurricane “Ian”, the floods in Pakistan, the drought in Europe: Natural disasters again caused enormous damage in 2022.
Devastating floods and devastating hurricanes caused $270 billion in damage last year. Natural catastrophes caused high damage on all continents, as the reinsurer Munich Re announced on Tuesday. “Climate change is increasingly taking its toll,” said board member Thomas Blunck. The natural catastrophe balance for 2022 is dominated by events that, according to the current state of research, are becoming stronger or more frequent. “Some both at the same time.”
2022, with a total loss of 270 billion dollars, follows the loss-intensive past years, as Munich Re also announced. The total damage corresponds to the average of the past five years. The insured losses of around 120 billion dollars would be significantly higher.
Chief climatologist Ernst Rauch from Munich Re explained that two factors are important when looking at the situation: La Niña conditions have prevailed for the third year in a row, which increases the likelihood of hurricanes in North America, floods in Australia, heat and drought in China or heavier monsoon rainfall in parts of South Asia. At the same time, climate change tends to intensify extreme weather events, so that the effects sometimes complement each other. The La Niña weather phenomenon is associated with high air pressure differences between South America and Indonesia and strong winds.
Most expensive natural disaster was Hurricane “Ian”
The most expensive natural catastrophe in 2022 was Hurricane Ian, which, according to Munich Re, accounts for more than a third of the total damage and around half of the insured damage. The hurricane hit Florida and North Carolina in the southeastern United States at the end of September.
The second most expensive and at the same time largest humanitarian catastrophe of the year was the severe flooding as a result of very heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan, as the reinsurer also announced. The floods in South East Australia in February and March were the second costliest natural catastrophe for insurers.
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In Europe, extreme heat and drought followed by severe thunderstorms and heavy hail are causing damage in many countries. Heat and drought favored forest fires – the burnt area was around 800,000 hectares in size, two and a half times the average of the previous 15 years. Winter storms again caused considerable damage.