THE costliest climate disasters of 2024 killed more than 2000 people and cost at least $200 billion (£161 million) in damage, according to new figures obtained from insurers by Christian Aid.
The real financial cost, however, is likely to be much higher, the charity warns: many people, particularly in poorer countries, are uninsured.
The annual analysis of insurers’ payouts found that each of the costliest weather events — floods, storms, and hurricanes — cost more than $4 billion. Each had the “clear fingerprint” of climate change, making its impact more extreme, experts told Christian Aid in their report, Counting the Cost 24: A year of climate breakdown.
The top three most expensive disasters were in the United States. The most expensive single event was Hurricane Milton, in October, which also cost about $60 billion and killed 25 people (News, 18 October 2024). The tropical cyclone made landfall in the Florida peninsula, bringing tornadoes and severe flooding.
Christian Aid said that without climate change — which, in the case of Hurricane Milton, caused unusually high sea temperatures that contributed to the hurricane’s rapid intensification — the event would have been reduced to a category-2 storm, with less impact. The report refers to analysis of historic weather observations to estimate that similar storms are now up to 30 per cent more likely to bring more intense rainfall, owing to climate change.
The third most expensive climate-induced event also occurred in the US: Hurricane Helene, in September, two weeks before Milton. This took the highest death toll since Hurricane Katrina in 2005: at least 232 people, who died in flash floods. Entire towns were swept away. Insurers estimate that claims will reach $55 billion.
A series of floods in China caused landslides, which killed at least 30 people. More rivers flooded in China this year than in any previous year, researchers noted.
The biggest typhoon of 2024, Super Typhoon Yagi, struck countries in South East Asia in early September, triggering widespread damage in the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand. Winds reached peak speeds of more than 200km per hour (124mph). The typhoon is believed to have killed more than 829 people, and caused damage costing $12.6 billion (£10.1 billion).
Europe also suffered severe flooding: Storm Boris hit Central Europe in September; in June, Bavaria experienced floods, as, in October, did Valencia, in Spain. Heavy downpours brought one year’s worth of rain in just a few hours in the Valencia region, and floods killed 226 people. The combined cost of these three weather events was $13.65 billion (£10.99 billion).
Every region of the world was affected by extreme weather. Some of the most devastating events were in poorer parts of the world: for example, Cyclone Chido, in the islands of Mayotte in December, may have killed as many as 1000 people. The Indian Ocean archipelago is one of France’s poorest overseas territories.
Heatwaves hit the East Antarctic in July, and also Bangladesh and Gaza, worsening the humanitarian crisis there. Colombia and Southern Africa suffered from severe prolonged droughts, and deadly landslides occurred in the Philippines as a result of a monsoon.
Christian Aid’s chief executive, Patrick Watt, said: “The human suffering caused by the climate crisis reflects political choices. There is nothing natural about the growing severity and frequency of droughts, floods, and storms. Disasters are being supercharged by decisions to keep burning fossil fuels, and to allow emissions to rise. And they’re being made worse by the consistent failure to deliver on financial commitments to the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries.”
Dr Mariam Zachariah, a World Weather Attribution researcher at Imperial College London, who analyses extreme events to discern the part played by climate change, said: “This report is just a snapshot of climate devastation in 2024. There are many more droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, and floods not included that are becoming more frequent and intense. Most of these disasters show clear fingerprints of climate change.
“Extreme weather is clearly causing incredible suffering in all corners of the world. Behind the billion-dollar figures are lost lives and livelihoods.”
Professor Joanna Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics, also at Imperial, said: “This report is a sobering reminder that climate change cannot be ignored, and in fact will get much worse until we do something to stop it. Politicians who downplay the urgency of the climate crisis only serve to harm their own people and cause untold suffering around the world.”
The ten costliest extreme weather events in 2024:
- US storms, December to January, more than $US60 billion (£48 billion);
- Hurricane Milton, US, 9-13 October, $US60 billion (£48 billion);
- Hurricane Helene, US, Mexico, and Cuba, $US55 billion (£44 billion);
- China floods, 9 June-14 July, $US15.6 billion (£12.4 billion);
- Typhoon Yagi, South-West Asia, 1 to 9 September, $US12.6 billion (£10 billion);
- Hurricane Beryl, US, Mexico, and Caribbean, 1-11 July, $US6.7 billion (£5.3 billion);
- Storm Boris, Central Europe, 12-16 September, $US5.2 billion (£4.1 billion);
- Rio Grande do Sul floods in Brazil, 28 April-3 May, $US5 billion (£4 billion);
- Bavarian floods, Germany, 1-7 June, $US4.45 billion (£3.5 billion); and
- Valencia floods, Spain, 29 October, $US4.22 billion (£3.4 billion).