Hurricanes, storms, floods and other natural disasters could cause insured losses of USD 145 billion this year – almost six percent more than in the previous year. This is according to new calculations by reinsurer Swiss Re. And yet 2024 was already one of the most expensive disaster years in history: Only in 2005, 2011 and 2017 were insured losses significantly higher due to particularly strong hurricanes (for example, Katrina in 2005; Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017) or destructive earthquakes (Fukushima in 2011).