The Cost of Extreme Storms | SERVPRO® of Cudahy/St. Francis

8/5/2021 (Permalink)

When storms do damage, we go to work to make things right. Contact SERVPRO of Cudahy/St. Francis to start the restoration process.

2020 was an all-time bad year on many levels both measurable and immeasurable. And as if to add insult to injury, it was a record-setting year for extreme weather as well. Of all the years in history for which we have data, 2020 was the most financially destructive.

There were 22 official weather disasters (which are defined as events that cause at least a billion dollars in damages) in 2020, to say nothing of the number of other storms that didn’t reach that mark. So numerous were the year’s hurricanes and tropical storms that the NWS had to make use of the Greek alphabet for just the second time in history to be able to give them all names.

Not Only Hurricanes

It’s easy to understand why hurricanes would cause widespread, costly damage and losses, but they’re not doing it all. In fact the most expensive disasters of 2020 in the contiguous United States were thunderstorms and tornadoes. 

Fourteen of the year’s official weather disasters were severe thunderstorms, some of which cranked out tornadoes as well. Thunderstorms happen in every area and season, and there’s no way to avoid them. They happen in both coastal and landlocked states, Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico, and everywhere in between.

Just one example of how powerful a single storm can be: In August 2020, what started as a typical line of storms in eastern Nebraska morphed into a derecho (picture a tornado composed of straight winds instead of swirling ones, plus a heavy thunderstorm) which affected over 10 million acres of corn fields, almost half the state’s crop—that’s more than 11% of the entire country’s corn fields.

That same month, we saw flooding in our own area when a heavy storm system dumped up to six inches of water on Milwaukee County, washing away roadways and swamping vehicles.

Not Only 2020

Unfortunately, 2020 seems to be more in line with a new-era average than an outstanding occasion. It was the 10th straight year with at least eight billion-dollar disasters. 2018 and 2019 saw a total of $136 billion in damages, and 2017 alone took in damages over $300 billion, the highest total ever recorded.

The bottom line is that we can’t stop storms from happening, and they seem to be happening more intensely and more often. As a home or business owner, you should take every precaution to keep yourself and your home safe.

And should those precautions fail or be inadequate to prevent damage, we’re here to restore your property "Like it never even happened."

When storms do damage, we go to work to make things right. Contact SERVPRO today to see how we can help.