Cost of Droughts
Droughts that persist for more than a few years can be especially damaging to crops and cause the deaths of trees that have been growing in forests for decades.
More than 100 million trees perished and then became safety hazards during the drought in California in 2016, according to NOAA. Stressed water supplies in the Northeast and Southeast from extreme droughts there had a significant impact on the agricultural industry.
The total economic cost of destruction from 2016 droughts was approximately $3.6 billion.