Weather disasters cost the US a record $390 billion in 2017

Washington: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria combined with devastating Western wildfires and other natural catastrophes to make 2017 the most expensive year on record for disasters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Monday.

Firefighter Ryan Spencer battles a wildfire as it burns
along a hillside toward homes in La Conchita, California in December. 

The disasters caused $US306 billion ($390 billion) in total damage in 2017, with 16 separate events that caused more than $1 billion in damage each. The bulk of the damage, at $265 billion, came from hurricanes in particular.

Read Chris Mooney’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Weather disasters cost the US a record $390 billion in 2017.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson says it might be 'too late' to recover from climate change.

Scientist and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said Sunday that, in the wake of devastating floods and damage caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, climate change had become so severe that the country "might not be able to recover.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In an interview on CNN's "GPS," Tyson got emotional when Fareed Zakaria asked what he made of Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert's refusal to say whether climate change had been a factor in Hurricanes Harvey or Irma's strength -- despite scientific evidence pointing to the fact that it had made the storms more destructive.

"Fifty inches of rain in Houston!" Tyson exclaimed, adding, "This is a shot across our bow, a hurricane the width of Florida going up the center of Florida!"

Read the CNN story - “Neil deGrasse Tyson says it might be 'too late' to recover from climate change."