5 Costliest U.S. Hurricanes Since 1900

Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida barely days after Hurricane Helene hit, and just two months after Hurricane Debby brought flooding to the Southeast. Helene devastated communities like Asheville, North Carolina, but, at press time, CoreLogic, a property analytics firm, was estimating that it caused less than $48 billion in property damage and less than $18 billion in insured losses. Helene might not be big enough to make Aon’s list of the top insured losses from U.S. tropical cyclones; the 10th-worst storm on its list is Hurricane Wilma, which hit in 2005 and caused the equivalent of $19 billion in insured damages in 2023 dollars. For Aon’s list of the five worst U.S. hurricanes for insured losses since 1900, as of January 2024, see the gallery above. The big picture: Milton is hitting as Rachel Young and Solomon Hsiang are getting attention for a paper in Nature about the true, long-term impact of U.S. tropical cyclones. Careful analysis of excess mortality shows that the average U.S. tropical cyclone generates a total of 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths from all causes over a 15-year period, and that the storms are at least partly responsible for about 3.2% to 5.1% of the deaths occurring along the Atlantic Coast, according to the researchers. Most of the excess deaths appear to be caused by effects such as lack of access to routine and preventive care. If Young and Hsiang are correct, a life is valued at $1 million, then Debbie, Helene and Milton could ultimately cause about 30,000 deaths, or about $30 billion in mortality losses. What it means: For financial professionals, the new storms add to the uncertainty about life expectancy already caused by COVID-19, increasing the need for careful thought both about the risk of premature death and the risk of outliving income. Clients with any health problems already may be even more likely to suffer premature death. The clients who get through times like these in good shape may be especially healthy and especially likely to live past 100. Treasure Island, Florida, is still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, which hit Sept. 26. Now, Hurricane Milton is coming. Photo: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg