Two weather events that affected South Carolina were among 50 global disasters last year that exceeded the $ 1 billion mark each for damages, including hurricanes, severe storms, fires and other hazards.
A series of tornadoes that swept the state in April and Hurricane Isaias, which swept the northern part of the South Carolina coast in August, were part of these major events.
They joined a record 50 of these disasters across the planet in 2020, which generated more than $ 1 billion each in losses, which was also a record.
The count comes from a recent report by Aon, an insurance broker.
Twenty-six of these events reached the United States, the most that any other region on the globe. But the most expensive event was the seasonal flooding seen in China, which added up to nearly $ 35 billion in damage.
Counting occurs as destructive weather events become more expensive. This is partly due to climate change and partly because more homes, businesses and other assets are at risk, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Not all events are more deadly, however. For example, a drought in the western United States was estimated at $ 4.5 billion, but it did not cause any deaths, Aon said.
South Carolina, on the other hand, was relatively unscathed in a year of wildfires in the west, a hurricane in the interior of the country through the midwest and several tropical cyclones in the Gulf of Mexico.
The state of Palmetto has faced two major damaging weather events. The first was a flood of tornadoes in April. SC Emergency Management Division spokesman Derrec Becker called the tornado train “one of the biggest tornado outbreaks in state history”.
The event generated 13 tornadoes in the state, including an EF4, the highest intensity for a twister, according to the SC State Secretariat for Climate.
More than 1,200 homes were damaged in South Carolina, with about 200 of them destroyed. The storm’s costs total more than $ 28 million, Becker said.
Counting the system’s damage from the midwest to the mid-Atlantic and southeast, it was ranked as the 14th most expensive climate disaster on Aon’s 2020 list.
Hurricane Isaias swept the northern edge of the Grand Strand, but it did not strike a blow big enough to justify a presidential disaster declaration in Palmetto State, Becker said, and EMD did not tabulate total state damage.
Its damage collectively in the Caribbean, Canada and elsewhere in the United States reached $ 5 billion and pushed the storm as the tenth most expensive on the Aon list.
South Carolina was also flooded by tropical storm Bertha, which was named after it hit Charleston in May. This event had little lasting impact; Becker called it “rain with a name.”
The most expensive event to affect only the United States, however, was a wave of severe storms, including a Derecho that wiped out much of the Midwest last August. That led to a loss of $ 12.6 billion, Aon said, after the inland storm that reached 126 mph wind speeds swept through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.
It was also the most expensive event recorded in the “severe weather” category, which includes severe storms, tornadoes and hail.
Bad weather proved to be even more expensive overall, than hurricanes and tropical storms in 2020, Aon said.
Talk to Chloe Johnson at 843-735-9985. Follow her on Twitter @_ChloeAJ.