Droughts, floods, fires and typhoons: The 20 costliest climate disasters of 2023, revealed – including one that cost over $4,000 per person

From droughts, floods, forest fires and tropical storms, no corner of the globe will be spared catastrophic weather events in 2023.

A new report reveals the 20 most financially costly climate disasters of the year – and all six of the world's inhabited continents are on the list.

Above, there are the horrific wildfires in Hawaii in August, which killed at least 100 people and cost more than $4,000 per person in damages.

Also featured are storms that hit Guam in May — which cost nearly $1,500 per resident — floods in New Zealand, drought in Spain, and wildfires in Chile.

Experts describe 2023 as the “year of climate collapse” and blame extreme events on the “failure to quickly phase out fossil fuels.”

The international charity Christian Aid published the analysis in a new report entitled “Calculating the Cost 2023: A Year of Climate Breakdown.”

She said many of the terrible events had received “little international attention” although all had had a “huge cost”, and not just in a financial sense.

Patrick Watt, chief executive of the charity, said: “With 2023 the hottest year on record, the impacts of climate change are clearer than ever.

“The human cost of the climate crisis is increasingly evident in homes washed away by floods and storms, and the loss of crops and livestock due to drought.

“This year has been devastating again if you live in a climate-vulnerable country.”

Scientists are increasingly linking extreme weather events to global warming, which is largely caused by carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

For example, warmer air can hold more moisture, which means more intense rain and flooding.

Storms are also becoming more intense, because rising sea surface temperatures increase wind speeds.

Warmer conditions increase the risk and severity of wildfires, by creating a “powder box” environment of dry, easily flammable vegetation.

For the report, Christian Aid divided the total damage from each disaster by the total population of the affected area – providing an estimate of each person's economic burden.

“This method provides a more individual perspective on the impact of the disaster, highlighting the financial pressures on the average citizen rather than just the overall economic losses,” the report explains.

The charity found that the highest per capita cost of natural disasters was the wildfires that affected Hawaii in August.

The average cost of these wildfires is $4,161 per person, more than any other weather event during the year.

It's also nearly three times the total cost of the next event on the list – Tropical Storm Guam in May ($1,455 per person).

For just 15 hours, the “super typhoon” known as Mawar battered the small US territory, located in the Pacific Ocean about 1,200 miles east of the Philippines.

The ferocity of the storm led to the death of two people, the destruction of buildings, the disruption of utilities, and the uprooting of trees.

Christian Aid noted the high frequency of storms on the list, which is “likely to increase due to climate change.”

Also in the top five were March's Vanuatu storm ($947 per person) and February's New Zealand storm ($468 per person).

Meanwhile, at No. 18 on the list is a cyclone that wreaked havoc as it moved across the southern Indian Ocean between February and March, known as Cyclone Freddy.

Although it affected many countries such as Mozambique and Madagascar, Malawi was the worst affected, where incessant rains caused catastrophic flash floods.

According to Christian Aid, people in wealthier countries like the United States are able to better prepare for potential extreme weather events in the future, as they are more able to invest in better homes or obtain insurance.

But resilient buildings are less common in poor countries like Malawi, and fewer households have the financial buffers to allow people to recover.

The report quoted Mofolo Chikunda, a 69-year-old widow from southern Malawi, as follows: “The worst negative impact of Hurricane Freddy that I will never forget in my entire life is the destruction of the only house we struggled to build.”

Experts say that more people are dying in disasters in poor countries due to climate events.

“It also means the recovery is slower and more uneven, with many people pushed further into poverty due to the destruction or damage of assets,” Watt said.

All 20 events that make up the new list are linked to climate change in terms of cause and effect.

Therefore, the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February, as well as the Morocco earthquake in September, are not included.

“Climatology is not clear about whether climate change affects the frequency and intensity of earthquakes,” the report says.

“A particular event may be ‘merely’ an example of a long-term historical pattern and not more or less caused by climate change.”