The hurricanes of Florence and Michael caused massive destruction in the southeast U.S. during the Atlantic storm season.

In the Pacific, Super Typhoons Mangkhut and Yutu rocked the Philippines, Guam, South China and the Mariana Islands. Argentina and Uruguay experienced severe drought. The U.S. state of California experienced the deadliest and most destructive wildfires on record.

Centre of Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters reported that approximately 5,000 people have died and 28.9 million needed emergency assistance worldwide because of extreme weather. Research indicates that economic losses from climate-related disasters have increased 151% in the past 20 years.

Natural disasters cost the world $155 billion this year, and several of them struck the United States particularly hard. Michael and Florence, the California wildfires and a volcanic eruption in Hawaii are all on that list, according to the Zurich-based reinsurance company Swiss Re. But it doesn’t match what happened in 2017. That was the costliest weather year in U.S. history, with more than $300 billion in damage.

“Climate change is here, and it’s already costing tens of billions of dollars a year. I think the climate costs in the future are greatly underestimated,” climate scientist Kevin Trenberth said.

The story of climate change in 2018 was complicated — overwhelmingly bad, yet with two reasons for hope. The bad and the good were connected, too: Thanks to the changing weather, more Americans seem to be waking up to the problem.

Related news: Federal report says climate change will wallop U.S. economy. Read More

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