LOS ANGELES — As severe storms continue to hit California, a climate expert warns that the costs to the state could be in excess of $1 billion.
The total is a reflection of “physical damage to homes, businesses and municipal properties,” said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist and disaster expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Smith is the lead researcher for NOAA’s “U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters” report, which catalogs 18 such disasters from 2022. He has reason to believe that the atmospheric river producing storms in California may join this year’s list.
