Dozens of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters have cost Tennessee untold amounts of money, resources, and, more importantly, lives.
That’s according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA), the federal agency responsible for monitoring the climate and environment. That report says the U.S. has suffered 310 weather and climate disasters since 1980 and that each cost more than $1 billion in damages and losses.
The country saw 21 such events in 2021, the reports says. The year saw one drought, two flooding events, 11 severe storms, four tropical cyclone events, one wildfire, and one winter storm that each racked up over $1 billion in response costs. These events also resulted in 688 deaths, according to NOAA.
The report does not break out the specific costs and lives lost in Tennessee, but it does capture any such event that has affected the state.
For example, the Category 4 Hurricane Ida slammed the Louisiana coast in August, leveling homes and knocking out power for thousands. Response to the hurricane and losses incurred cost about $75 billion, NOAA said, and 93 died.
A major storm had already caused flooding in Tennessee, hitting hard in the small town of Waverly. Those there were still calculating the devastation in lives lost and clean-up efforts when Ida dumped another 2.5 inches of rain on the area.
Hurricane Ida had a more direct economic effect in Tennessee, too, as the storm’s rain bands soaked the festival grounds for Bonnaroo 2021. The show was supposed to mark the festival’s return from 2020’s Covid cancellation. But event organizers said the rain meant the show could not go on, issuing refunds to ticket holders of what is a multi-million-dollar concert event in the state.
“While this weekend’s weather looks outstanding, currently Centeroo is waterlogged in many areas, the ground is incredibly saturated on our tollbooth paths, and the campgrounds are flooded to the point that we are unable to drive in or park vehicles safely,” Bonnaroo tweeted at the time. “We have done everything in our power to try to keep the show moving forward, but Mother Nature has dealt us a tremendous amount of rain over the past 24 hours, and we have run out of options to try to make the event happen safely and in a way that lives up to the Bonnaroo experience.”
Memphis is mentioned directly once in NOAA’s report and it comes with a direct price tag. In 2011, parts of the Ohio Valley saw nearly 300 times the amount of its usual rainfall. Much of that water flowed into the Mississippi River. Combine that water with the year’s typical snowpack melt, and the event flooded the river.
The overall cost of the flood was $3.8 billion, according to NOAA. For Memphis, the flood caused $403 million (adjusted for inflation) in damages. It also caused more than $1 billion worth of agricultural damages in Mississippi.
Talks on climate and the economy were held in July during a House Financial Services Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and and Financial Institutions. Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Union of Concerned Citizens, said Congress needs an advisory council to require climate risk exposure in the marketplace and protect those most in harm’s way (usually low-income households) from the harms of climate change.
”If we fail to take action now, the potential for severe shocks to our financial system will grow and, as with previous crises, the impacts will be especially harsh for those who can least afford it, low- and fixed-income households and communities of color,” Cleetus said.
