2011 Natural Disasters: The Biggest Weather-Related Catastrophes Of The Year In Photos

2011 was not a pretty year in terms of natural disasters. Around the world, regions were slammed with extreme weather and catastrophes resulting in costly devastation and massive death tolls.

The U.S. broke its record for billion-dollar weather disasters. The Associated Press reported that in 2011, the U.S. saw more weather catastrophes costing at least $1 billion in damage than it experienced throughout all of the 1980s.

Tornadoes ripped through the U.S., devastating regions such as Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri.

One of the biggest stories of the year was the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March, killing thousands and wreaking havoc at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

Heat waves over the summer scorched the U.S. and Texas suffered from fires and its worst drought in decades. An earthquake rattled the East Coast in October, and Hurricane Irene followed shortly thereafter.

The U.S. also suffered from dust storms, flooding and snowstorms. Around the world, regions also suffered from droughts and floods.

Over 1,000 people were killed this year by weather in the U.S., according to National Weather Service Director Jack Hayes, who told the Associated Press in December he'd never seen a year like "the deadly, destructive and relentless 2011."

AP writes:

That's why the world has to do two things, said Princeton University geological sciences professor Michael Oppenheimer: try to slow global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and prepare better for extreme weather.

In November, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report stating that the world must prepare for more "unprecedented extreme weather" caused by global warming.

Was your region hit with extreme weather this year? Let us know in the comments below, and check out the slideshow documenting some of this year's extreme weather seen around the world:

To see more great photography visit HuffPost Exposure.

Comments

[jerrynmd]

02:19 PM on 01/18/2012

God said that there would be hurricanes, floods and famines in divers places in the last days. And they would increase in number. God will not be mocked. We are living in the last days.

[jerrynmd]

02:13 PM on 01/18/2012

God said that in the end there would be wars and rumors of wars, there would be earthquakes and raging seas in divers places, and that they would increase in number. We can know the wheather but will not know what is about to happen to us. Trust God read your bible.

[smp276dp]

09:38 PM on 12/31/2011

The question is what does the new year hold?

[fredyacht1]

08:34 PM on 12/31/2011

Obama was the biggest catastrophe of the year

[whdlsn]

10:31 PM on 12/31/2011

yes

[bpd9227]

11:23 PM on 12/31/2011

Of the last three years.

[papamav]

08:22 PM on 12/31/2011

what a terrible natural disaster count weve had this year

[rosasturtles1]

07:29 PM on 12/31/2011

this year is one i will never forget..brutal heat and dourght..people died some of our cattle burned to death..those memories will live forever..this was a very hard and sad year for lots of people and nations..GOD BLESS EVERYONE AND MAY 2012 BE A BETTER AND FRUITFUL YEAR..

[Azentrius]

07:25 PM on 12/31/2011

Hurricane Irene was in late August, not October.

[AlexM0958]

04:59 PM on 12/31/2011

Yes, and for all of recorded history each generation has seen the power of Mother Nature -- through the brief instant each of us gets to experience on Earth -- and some people always think, "Oh My! Surely these events must be signs for the End of Time!" It's Planet Earth people. Enjoy it, accept it and try your best to remember that one lifetime is a mere blink of Earth Time, and that the power of nature will ultimately erase all signs of mankind's presence here ... just like wind and water erases a footprint in the sand. Global Warming? Worry more about the next glaciation! Environmental 'extremists' insult the power of Mother Nature and the resilience of Planet Earth!

[prosymom]

02:09 PM on 12/31/2011

Our weather is created at the equator...most of the weather extremes are the result of slash and burn clearing of all the equatorial rain forests--all nations must work together to protect these forests before we end up with deserts at the equator---think Lebanon and the great forests that used to be along the Mediterrenean Sea several thousand years ago. (giant cedars of Lebanon that were cut to build warships.)

[Awilda VelezRodriguez]

12:45 PM on 12/31/2011

"The Grapes of Wrath"

[Julie Ross Birmingham]

11:29 AM on 12/31/2011

Yes we did have bad weather. It will be interesting to see what this next year holds for us.
Lets not forget the Mayan Calender..ends in 2012...on my birthday...it has to be on someones birthday..why not mine? LOL

[rp2par]

01:36 PM on 12/31/2011

Sounds like it will be a memorable one. :-)

[prosymom]

02:15 PM on 12/31/2011

the Mayan calendar ended because the Mayan Indians were invaded by the Spanish Conquistadors who killed off the priests who created the calendars...the last "future" calendar just happened to be 2011...there is no implication of the "end of the earth."

[Julie Ross Birmingham]

05:34 PM on 12/31/2011

Yours is the first I have read or heard why the calender ended. Thank you..I will enjoy
my 70th BD next year.

[Mark Helfgott]

12:32 AM on 12/31/2011

You can add my sex life to the list.

[360Dunk]

09:58 AM on 12/31/2011

May I suggest investing in a good vaccuum cleaner with a powerful suction?

[StevenRussell1]

11:47 PM on 12/30/2011

Praise God that all things happen by commandment from God's throne.

[rp2par]

10:50 AM on 12/31/2011

Please remember that there is a religion section on HP. This is not it!

[ae12wrangell]

10:12 PM on 12/30/2011

The worst of the year all happened in Japan. The earthquake, tsunami that was almost directly afterward's, and the nuclear meltdown.

[Geet Chainani]

07:09 PM on 12/24/2011

Floods in Sindh, Pakistan in September affecting 8 million ppl more than half of whom are still homeless.