October 11, 2022

Damage from weather, climate disasters could exceed $100B in 2022, NOAA says

WATCH: Damage from weather, climate disasters could exceed $100 billion in 2022, NOAA says

Damage from weather and climate disasters in 2022 could exceed $100 billion in the U.S. by the end of the year, according to estimations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So far this year, 15 events -- including the recent Hurricanes Fiona and Ian -- have incurred damages of more than $1 billion, NOAA announced on Tuesday. It is the 8th consecutive year in which the U.S. has endured 10 or more billion-dollar disaster events.

MORE: Floridians adamant about rebuilding in areas devastated by Hurricane Ian

The current tally for 2022 is $29.3 billion in destruction, but the costs from Fiona, Ian and the wildfires in the West are still being tallied, according to NOAA.

CPB AMO Southeast Region via ZUMA Press, FILE
In this Sept. 18, 2022, file photo, flooding is seen from Hurricane Fiona after it struck Puerto Rico's southwest coast and knocked out the power grid.

More than 340 in the U.S. have died in these events, but death tolls could rise as search and rescue crews continue to comb through battered portions of Southwest Florida and Puerto Rico.

Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28 as a strong Category 4 hurricane and tracked across the state before exiting into the Atlantic Ocean and making another landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1 storm. Entire neighborhoods on Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach were decimated with storm surge and up to 150 mph winds.

MORE: Hurricane Ian before and after images show destruction of Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach

On Sept. 18, Fiona brought major flooding, damage and loss of life to Puerto Rico -- five years after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria.

Gerald Herbert/AP
The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, on Oct. 1, 2022. Due to the damage, the island can only be reached by boat or air.

Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 338 weather and climate disasters in which the overall damages exceeded $1 billion, according to NOAA. The total cost of those 338 events exceeds $2.295 trillion.

MORE: Hurricane Fiona moves north after wreaking havoc in Puerto Rico

Climate scientists warn that extreme weather events such as hurricanes, wildfires and drought will become more severe as global temperatures continue to rise.

ABC News' Dan Manzo contributed to this report.