According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there were 14 billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events in the United States in 2019. The total cost of these disasters totaled $45.0 billion.
Although the cost of disasters decreased significantly in 2019 from previous year, the trend continues to show a rise in the cost of weather related disasters over time. The total cost of disasters over that last three years (2017 through 2019 totaled $460 billion and over $535 billion over the last 5 years.
According to NOAA, the number and cost of disasters are increasing over time due to a combination of increased exposure, increased value and risk of possible loss, vulnerability and climate change which is increasing the frequency of some types of weather extremes that lead to billion-dollar disasters.
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2020). https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/