PARIS, Dec 27, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - The ten most expensive weather disasters

this year caused more than $170 billion (150 billion euros) in damage, $20
billion more than in 2020, a British aid group said Monday.

   Each year, UK charity Christian Aid calculates the cost of weather
incidents like flooding, fires and heat waves according to insurance claims
and reports the results.

   In 2020, it found the world's ten costliest weather disasters caused $150
billion in damage, making this year's total an increase of 13 percent.

   Christian Aid said the upward trend reflects the effects of man-made
climate change and added that the ten disasters in question also killed at
least 1,075 people and displaced 1.3 million.

   The most expensive disaster in 2021 was hurricane Ida, which lashed the
eastern United States and caused around $65 billion in damages. After
crashing into Louisiana at the end of August, it made its way northward and
caused extensive flooding in New York City and the surrounding area.

   Spectacular and deadly flooding in Germany and Belgium in July was next on
the list at $43 billion in losses.

   A cold snap and winter storm in Texas that took out the vast state's power
grid cost $23 billion, followed by flooding in China's Henan province in July
that cost an estimated $17.6 billion.

   Other disasters costing several billion dollars include flooding in
Canada, a late spring freeze in France that damaged vineyards, and a cyclone
in India and Bangladesh in May.

   The report acknowledged its evaluation mainly covers disasters in rich
countries where infrastructure is better insured and that the financial toll
of disasters on poor countries is often incalculable.

   It gave the example of South Sudan where flooding affected around 800,000
people.

   "Some of the most devastating extreme weather events in 2021 hit poorer
nations, which have contributed little to causing climate change," the
report's press release noted.

   In mid-December, the world's biggest reinsurer, Swiss Re, estimated
natural catastrophes and extreme weather events caused around $250 billion in
damage this year.

   It said the total represented a 24 percent increase over last year and
that the cost to the insurance industry alone was the fourth highest since
1970.