Hurricanes, fires, heatwaves or snowstorms, etc.: nearly 20% of Americans were financially affected by a climatic event in 2023, a share up sharply compared to 2022, and which has even doubled in the west of the country .
“Nearly 2 in 10 adults reported being financially impacted by natural disasters or severe weather events [tels que des inondations, des ouragans, des incendies de forêt ou des températures extrêmes] » between October 2022 and October 2023, according to a survey by the American central bank (Fed) published Tuesday.
The year before, this affected only 13% of Americans.
“Property damage or loss is one of the most significant financial risks, especially for homeowners without home insurance,” explains the Fed.
But extreme weather conditions have also prevented people from going to work, depriving them of part of their salary, or driving up the heating or air conditioning bill – which a large proportion of homes in the United States are equipped with.
And inequalities are significant, depending on income, skin color, or geographic region: “low-income adults and non-white adults are more likely to be financially affected by a natural disaster.”
Similarly, “nearly a quarter of adults living in the South have been financially affected by a natural disaster, compared to 13% in the Northeast.”
But it is in the west that the proportion of people affected has increased the most in one year, almost doubling, from 10 to 19%.
However, notes the Federal Reserve, “homeowners who appear to be at higher risk of being financially affected by a natural disaster were also less likely to have homeowners insurance.”
Thus, in the Southern States, among the owners with the lowest incomes, some 40% of those who have finished paying for their property are uninsured – and are therefore no longer subject to an insurance obligation within the framework of their loan.
Nationwide, 13% of homeowners who no longer have a loan do not have homeowners insurance.
Faced with climate risks, 18% of those surveyed have carried out work to mitigate them, 13% are looking to move, and 5% have taken out additional insurance.
In Florida, a region located in the south of the United States, which experiences devastating hurricanes every year and recorded temperature records last year, a law promulgated on May 15 by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis removes references to climate change official state texts.