America has already beaten the record for 'billion-dollar' disasters in a year - with three months to go and the peak of hurricane season

America has already set a record for 'billion-dollar' disasters in a given year - even with three months to go and the peak of hurricane season still remaining. 

According to NOAA, which has been tracking billion-dollar weather disasters in the US since 1980 and adjusting costs for inflation, this year's storms have already cost more than $57.6billion and claimed at least 253 lives.

The disasters include the Maui wildfires, Hurricane Idalia in Florida and flooding in the Northeast. 

There have been 23 billion-dollar storms this year, beating the previous record of 22 in 2020, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA applied climatologist Adam Smith, who tracks the billion-dollar weather