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Health and Economic Impacts of Severe Weather Events in the United States
This report analyzes the public health and economic impacts of severe weather events across the United States using data from the NOAA Storm Database spanning from 1950 to November 2011. The objective is to identify which weather events cause the most harm to human population health and which yield the most severe economic consequences. Population health impact is measured by aggregating the total number of fatalities and injuries across different event types. Economic consequences are determined by calculating the combined financial damage to properties and crops after normalizing character-based exponent multipliers. The analysis reveals that tornadoes are overwhelmingly the most hazardous events to public health, while flash floods and river floods incur the highest overall economic costs. These insights can help municipal managers and emergency planners prioritize resources and update infrastructure risk assessments effectively.