States with the most natural disasters in 2021

#1: California

California’s ongoing drought issues have made the state a prime territory for wildfires. Fires have always been an issue in the state, but increasing temperatures due to climate change have merely accelerated the issue in recent years. 

In 2021, FEMA declared 11 federal disasters in California, all of which were due to fires. Over 3 million acres have burned, along with over 3,600 structures. In order to protect homeowners in affected areas, the California government placed a moratorium on insurance companies dropping coverage for those who live in wildfire-prone areas. In total, AccuWeather expects fire-related insurance losses to total between $45 and $55 billion for the state.

#2: Washington

Washington state has also experienced a large share of wildfires throughout 2021, with nine federally declared disasters this year. Most wildfires occurred in July and August, although one of the disasters included a severe winter storm at the beginning of the year. The severity of the storm included straight line winds, flooding, mudslides and landslides. 500,000 people lost power during the storm and total damages exceeded $21 million.

650,000 acres burned in Washington this year, with a major uptick in the summer months when temperatures were above average for the year and a drought had already settled in.

#3: Louisiana

Rather than suffering from one major ongoing weather event, Louisiana got hit by multiple natural disasters throughout 2021, five of which were declared by FEMA. The year kicked off with severe ice storms in February, followed by spring storms in May that included flooding and tornadoes.

But the biggest event of the year was Hurricane Ida, which landed on Louisiana as a Category 4 storm in late August. The storm is responsible for 115 deaths in the state and insurance losses estimated at a staggering $30 billion. The damage for all impacted states is expected to reach $95 billion, making Ida the 7th costliest storm since 200. 

On top of that, early studies reveal that as much as 106 square miles of the Louisiana coastline could be lost because of the storm. In September, Ida was followed by Tropical Storm Nicholas, which hit many of the same areas still trying to recover from the previous hurricane.

#4: Montana

2021 brought both fire and severe winds to Montana, with federal aid kicking in for more substantial outbreaks throughout the summer months. Nearly 1 million acres have burned across the state this year, which is the most damage done since 2017. In addition to damage, injury and evacuation orders, the wildfires have also caused air quality issues in Montana. The southern part of the state received air quality warnings throughout the summer, ranging from moderate to unhealthy, depending on location.

#5: Arizona

Over half a million acres burned due to wildfires in Arizona during 2021. In addition to high temperatures and drought, thunderstorms putting off dry lightning also increased the scale and frequency of the fires. June brought the state’s sixth-largest fire ever and at the time was the largest fire in the U.S (until being surpassed by Oregon’s Bootleg Fire later in July). Dubbed the Telegraph Fire, it burned for a full month, destroying over 180,000 acres.

#6: Oregon

Oregon was hit with a major winter storm early in the year, followed by major wildfires; altogether, four federal disasters were declared. Snow, ice and freezing rain hit the state hard in February, leaving over 250,000 homes without power. Wildfires weren’t as catastrophic as those that burned in 2020, but substantial damage still occurred from the three FEMA-declared fires (and others that weren’t declared). Over 825,000 acres were burned with nearly half attributed to the Bootleg Fire.