Survey: 3.3 million U.S. adults displaced by natural disasters in past year
A woman looks over her apartment after flood water inundated it when Hurricane Ian passed through on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Florida. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Some 3.3 million adults living in the U.S. were displaced by natural disasters this past year, per a new U.S. Census Bureau survey.
Driving the news: Hurricanes were responsible for more than half of the relocations, data released from the Household Pulse Survey on Thursday shows.
By the numbers: More than 1.9 million people were displaced by hurricanes, while about 665,000 people were displaced by flooding, nearly 660,000 from fires, and more than 320,000 from tornados.
- Another 685,000 were displaced by other natural disasters.
Zoom in: More than a third of those displaced by natural disasters, and the subsequent damage caused by them, were out of their homes for less than a week.
- About 1 in 6 — that's more than 543,000 people — never returned home.
Zoom out: The state with the most people displaced was Florida, with almost 1 million people forcibly leaving their homes in the face of Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole.