Associated Press » With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters. The nation endured 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the government said Monday, totaling $306 billion. That tied 2011 for the number of billion-dollar calamities, but it blew past the total cost record of $215 billion in 2005.
