New Hampshire Is One Of The States Least Impacted By Natural Disasters: Study

CONCORD, NH — The nation has its eyes focused on the damage and recovery efforts after Hurricane Ian in Florida and South Carolina.

Estimated costs are expected to surpass $57 billion.

New Hampshire has seen some disasters but none on the magnitude of Hurricane Ian.

The ice storm of 2008 was one of the worst, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. The Mother’s Day floods of 2006 demolished hundreds of roads and knocked out power, too, for residents. And there were the remnants of hurricanes — Irene, Katrina, Rita, and Superstorm Sandy, that hit other parts of the country but brought damage to the Granite State, too, even if they were not as strong as when they first hit. And who can forget the Snowtober Frankenstorm storm of 2011 or the pre-Halloween storm from 2017, that knocked out power to nearly half a million customers?

But even with all those storms, a new study shows that New Hampshire is the third-least state to be impacted by natural disasters.

The study, by WalletHub.com, an online financial resource site, analyzed all 50 states in the United States based on two metrics — the number of climate disasters causing $1 billion or more in damage between 1980 and 2022, and the loss amount from climate disasters causing $1 billion or more in damage per capita, for the same years.

New Hampshire placed 46th in the number of disasters and 33rd in the per capita category for an overall ranking of 48th — or third-least impacted. Alaska and Maine were just below New Hampshire.

The worst state was Mississippi followed by Louisiana, Texas, Iowa, and Alabama. Florida ranked ninth.

Read the full study online here.

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