Extreme weather left 474 people dead and cost $165bn in the US last year

Record costs and the increasing frequency of threatening events underscore the escalating danger of the climate crisis

The US endured a particularly painful year as communities wrestled with the growing impacts of the climate crisis, with 18 major disasters wreaking havoc across the country as planet-heating emissions continued to climb.

Storms, floods, wildfires and droughts caused a total of $165bn in damages in the US last year, $10bn more than the 2021 total and the third most costly year since records of major losses began in 1980, according to new US government data.