US hit by 25 reported billion-dollar climate disasters in 2023

Fire scorched the Wahikuli Terrace neighborhood in the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii on Aug 15, 2023. [Reuters]

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA - reports the U.S. has seen 25 separate weather or climate "disasters" - events causing damage or losses exceeding $1 billion - so far this year, the highest number since the agency began tracking such events 43 years ago.

In a report issued this week, NOAA said severe thunderstorms moving through Oklahoma and other southern Plains states on September 23 and 24 brought high winds and large hail, causing enough damage to rank as the 25th weather disaster so far in 2023.