AIR Currents

The year 2016 set a record for the number of billion-dollar inland flood disasters. There were four billion-dollar inland floods last year, accounting for just over 25% of the total number of billion-dollar disasters (15), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These four disasters not only set the record, but they doubled the previous record of two billion-dollar inland floods, set in 1980. Last year’s four disastrous floods in 2016 occurred in Houston, West Virginia, and twice in Louisiana.

Although there were prolonged droughts in various parts of the country, NOAA reported that 2016 was the fourth consecutive wetter-than-normal year in the U.S. And in the Upper Midwest, 2016 was the wettest year ever.