Increased precipitation resulting partially from climate change has caused an additional $2.5 billion a year in U.S. flood damage, according to a new study that pinpoints the effect of changing weather on the cost of natural disasters. A study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal says that from 1988 through 2017, intensifying precipitation was responsible for a total of $75 billion in U.S. flood damage over the 29-year study period. Total flood damage in those years was nearly $200 billion, meaning that the excess precipitation accounted for more than a third of the damage in that period. The study analyzes only precipitation-related flooding, which includes most riverine flooding, and excludes coastal flooding, which is often caused by storm surge. NOAA’s recent analysis of major disasters since 1980 found that hurricanes accounted for $1 trillion of the $1.9 trillion in damage from the nation’s costliest disasters. Inland flooding accounted for $150 billion in damage during major disasters, which are those that cause at least $1 billion in damage, NOAA found.
— source scientificamerican.com | Jan 13, 2021