List of weather disasters of 2017 with a loss of more than one billion US dollars

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This list of weather disasters from 2017 with a loss of more than one billion US dollars names 29  natural disasters for which the international insurance consultancy Aon Benfield has determined a loss of more than one billion US dollars and where the weather was the cause of the damage. Of these 29 natural events, nine are severe weather events such as hail , tornado and storm (excluding tropical cyclones), two are floods after extensive rainfall and eight are the consequences of tropical cyclones. There are also two onset of winter and four droughts. According to these calculations, the total economic damage of all natural disasters in 2017 amounts to 353 billion US dollars, 93% above the average of the last seventeen years. Most of it - $ 344 billion - was caused by weather disasters, significantly more than the previous high of $ 294 billion in 2005.

Sixteen of these weather disasters affected the United States and four that of the People's Republic of China . Two events occurred in Europe.

The three weather disasters with the highest aggregate economic damage - Hurricanes Harvey (US $ 100 billion), Maria (US $ 65 billion), and Irma (US $ 55 billion) - include Hurricane Katrina (US $ 161 billion) and Hurricane Sandy (US $ 70 billion) the five weather disasters with the highest amounts of damage.

The number of people killed by natural disasters was around 10,000 in 2017, significantly lower than the long-term average of 71,000 deaths. The weather disaster with the most direct deaths was a flood-caused landslide in Sierra Leone that killed over 1,100 people. (However, the number of casualties from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico is still unclear, as the number of indirect casualties from disease and deficiency is estimated at over 1,000 so far.)

rank event area Period Damage amount in
billion USD 		Number of victims
1 Hurricane Harvey United States August 25–2. September 100.0 84
2 Hurricane Maria Caribbean 18.-21. September 65.0 98+
3 Hurricane Irma Caribbean, Bahamas, Southeastern United States 5th - 12th September 55.0 124
4th Forest fires California, United States 8-30 October 13.0 43
5 Floods People's Republic of China June 22–5 July 7.5 141
6th drought Southern Europe January 1 to December 31 July 6.6 0
7th Floods People's Republic of China 13-17 July 4.5 20th
8th Typhoon Hato Macau, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China 23-25 August 3.5 22nd
9 storm Rocky Mountains, Great Plains in the United States 8-11 May 3.4 0
10 Forest fires Southern California, United States 3–31 December 3.225 2
11 Floods Peru January 1–1. April 3.15 120
12 Winter weather Europe 19.-25. April 3.08 0
13 storm Great Plains, Southeastern and Midwestern United States 26.-28. March 2.7 0
14th drought Great Plains and Rocky Mountains in the United States March 1–30. September 2.5 0
15th drought People's Republic of China May 1st – August 2.5 0
16 Cyclone Debbie Australia March 27–5. April 2.4 14th
17th storm Midwestern United States June 11th 2.4 0
18th storm Midwest, Great Plains, and Southeastern United States 6-10 March 2.2 0
19th storm Midwest, Great Plains and Southeastern United States, Mississippi Valley April 28–1. May 2.0 20th
20th Forest fires United States West Coast June 1–30. September 2.0 0
21st Typhoon Lan Philippines, Japan 18.-23. October 2.0 17th
22nd drought Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya January 1 to December 31 March 1.9 hundreds
23 storm Southern United States February 27–2. March 1.9 4th
24 storm Great Plains, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States 27.-30. June 1.55 0
25th storm Southern United States 18.-23. January 1.3 21st
26th Tropical storm Nanmadol Japan 4th-6th June 1.2 37
27 Winter weather Great Plains, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast United States 13-14 March 1.1 11
28 storm Great Plains and Rocky Mountains of the United States 12-14 June 1.0 0
29 Typhoon Damrey Philippines, Vietnam 1-8 November 1.0 114

Remarks

  1. ↑ Munich Re gives the total economic loss of all natural disasters in 2017 at 330 billion US dollars (almost double as in 2016); Weather events accounted for 320 billion or 93% of this.
  2. ↑ a b c d The NOAA is for Harvey 125 billion USD for Maria US $ 90 billion and $ 50 billion for Irma to. The reinsurer Munich Re has calculated that these three hurricanes are USD 85, 63 and 67 billion respectively.

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