Typhoon Haiyan, severe weather in U.S. cause major losses in November

Super Typhoon Haiyan was unsurprisingly the most significant severe weather event to hit during November, although the month was also marked by other storms in Asia and a rare weather outbreak in the United States, according to the latest catastrophe recap report from Impact Forecasting.

When Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines, the storm was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, killing at least 5,719 people and injuring 26,233 others, with 1,779 people declared  missing, according to the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield.

Economic losses from the storm, including damage and reconstruction costs, are estimated at $5.8 billion, with insured losses expected to hit the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the recap report for November.

“The level of devastation and casualties in the Philippines sustained from Super Typhoon Haiyan makes this one of the most significant natural disaster events in 2013,” Steve Bowen, an Impact Forecasting senior scientist and meteorologist commented in a statement.

“The substantial impacts from Haiyan highlight the vital roles that catastrophe modeling and the insurance industry can have in both analyzing future risks and helping communities to recover more quickly following a major event,” he noted.

“Remarkably, Haiyan became the third Category 5 storm to make landfall in the Philippines since 2010. This is in stark contrast to the United States, which has not endured a Category 3+ hurricane landfall since October 2005.”

The month was also marked by Cyclone Helen, which made landfall in India, destroying more than a million acres of crops and causing total economic losses of nearly $800 million, according to estimates from officials in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Tropical Depression Podu in Vietnam also killed at least 42 people and damaged or destroyed 427,258 homes and around 15,000 acres of cropland, resulting in economic losses estimated at $72 million, according to the report.

A tropical storm also brought severe rains and winds to Somalia, destroying home, roads and bridges during the month.

Closer to home, a severe weather outbreak (rare for November) hit the U.S., killing at least 10 people and injuring roughly 300 others.

“According to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) at least 106 tornado touchdowns were registered, with 74 confirmed – representing the third-most prolific November U.S. tornado outbreak since 1950,” Impact Forecasting said.

Total economic losses are estimated to surpass $1 billion, with insured losses expected to reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, the report says.

The Italian island of Sardinia also saw more than 385 mm of rain in under 24 hours, killing at least 18 people and causing the government to allocate $140 million for damage and recovery costs.

Severe weather also caused economic and insured losses in the millions of dollars in Australia’s Queensland and New South Wales during November, while flooding events were also recorded in  Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Somalia, and Vietnam during the month.