Climate Adaptation
Natural Disaster Losses Decline After Major Storms Spare U.S.
- Munich Re counts $150 billion of catastrophe losses in 2019
- Rising toll from wildfires and hailstorms hint at climate link
A boat passes through a flooded neighborhood following Hurricane Florence in North Carolina on Sept. 2018.
Photographer: Alex Wroblewski/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Insurance losses from natural disasters fell last year after the U.S. was spared the full wrath of a major Atlantic hurricane.
That’s according to the reinsurance firm Munich Re, which recorded total losses of $150 billion from events like hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires last year, down from $186 billion in 2018 when two major storms hit the U.S. While the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season saw an above-average number of storms, the biggest of them swerved away from the U.S. mainland.