Hurricanes, floods, fires dominated coast-to-coast events ‘This is one of the worst years on record for U.S. damages’ In the year that President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris accord and downplayed global warming as a security threat, the U.S. received a harsh reminder of the perils of the rise in the planet’s temperature: a destructive rash of hurricanes, fires and floods. The country recorded 15 weather events costing $1 billion or more each through early October, one short of the record 16 in 2011, according to the federal government’s National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville, North Carolina. And the tally doesn’t include the recent wildfires in southern California. A flooded street following Hurricane Irma in Bonita Springs, Florida, Sept. 12. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg In many cases, weather broke records. In others, it was just downright odd, like the February warm spell that sent temperatures to a […]