You don’t have to work in the restoration industry to notice that natural disasters and catastrophic weather events are seemingly becoming more common. But when you do work in restoration, paying attention to the shifting nature of these events is more than something we simply take note of--it’s a core part of staying prepared for the job.
According to data collected by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and reported on Climate.gov, “the U.S. experienced more than twice the number of billion-dollar disasters during the 2010s than the 2000s decade: 119 versus 59.” These numbers may be surprising, but they aren’t difficult to believe, especially when you consider the record-breaking year 2020 has already been. With more than 100 wildfires actively burning in the Western U.S., an already-historic Atlantic hurricane season, and all of this occurring against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the current landscape suggests the billion-dollar disaster trend will continue into the 2020s.